Washington DC [US], February 8 (ANI): US President Donald Trump announced plans to sign an Executive Order next week that will reverse the Biden administration’s push for paper straws and head back to plastic usage.
Calling the initiative “ridiculous”, Trump asserted that paper straws “don’t work”.
In a post on X, Trump said, “I will be signing an Executive Order next week ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don’t work. Back to plastic!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 7, 2025
Trump’s statement came after he signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Treaty — just as he did in his first term.
Paris Agreement is an international agreement to combat climate change, and nearly 200 countries have committed to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius and ideally below 1.5 degrees. Each country is responsible for developing its own plan to uphold the commitment. However, the agreement is not a legally binding treaty.
Meanwhile, Trump also criticised the US Agency for International Development (USAID), claiming that the agency’s handling of funds is “fraudulently and unexplainable” and said that the agency should “close down.”
“USAID is driving the radical left crazy, and there is nothing they can do about it because the way in which the money has been spent, so much of it fraudulently, is totally unexplainable. The corruption is at levels rarely seen before. Close it down,” Trump wrote on X.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 7, 2025
Notably, White House Press Secretary Karoline Levitt on February 3, criticised the USAID and pointed out projects like USD 1.5 million for Diversity, equity and inclusion programmes (DEI) in Serbia, a transgender opera in Colombia, and a DEI musical in Ireland and called these projects “wasteful spending of American taxpayer dollars.”
Her remarks came after Trump had appointed Secretary of State Marco Rubio as acting administrator of the USAID, confirming the de-facto takeover of the humanitarian agency by the State Department.
Addressing the reporters, Levitt had said, “If you look at the waste and abuse that has run through USAID over the past several years, these are some of the insane priorities that the organisation has been spending money on — USD 1.5 million to advance DEI in Serbia’s workplaces, USD 70,000 for the production of a DEI musical in Ireland, USD 47,000 for a transgender opera in Colombia, USD 32,000 for a transgender comic book in Peru.”
She added, “I don’t know about you but as an American taxpayer, I don’t want my dollars going towards this crap and I know the American people don’t want to either. And that’s exactly what Elon Musk has been tasked by President Trump to do.” (ANI)
