WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Friday raged against eco-friendly paper straws promoted by his predecessor Joe Biden, and pledged that the United States would return to plastic ones.
The move is his latest on green issues since returning to power, after pulling out of the Paris climate change agreement and ordering deregulations as part of a “drill, baby, drill” agenda.
On Thursday, the Republican’s administration also sought to block funding for a network of electric-vehicle charging stations across the country, sparking fury from environmentalists.
Trump pledged action against paper straws, which are unpopular with many consumers but create less plastic pollution.
“I will be signing an Executive Order next week ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don’t work. BACK TO PLASTIC!” he said on social media.
Democrat Biden had announced a target to eliminate single-use plastic utensils like drinking straws by 2035 across government agencies.
The trend for paper drinking straws has long irritated Trump.
“They want to ban straws. Has anyone tried those paper straws? They’re not working too good,“ he said during a campaign rally in the 2020 election against Biden.
“It disintegrates as you drink it, and if you have a nice tie like this tie, you’ve got no choice.”
Trump’s campaign team previously sold branded plastic straws with the slogan: “Liberal paper straws don’t work.”
The president, who calls climate change a scam, has also often targeted electric vehicles despite his close alliance with Tesla chief Elon Musk.
Halting rollout of the $5 billion national EV charging network would be a major setback to efforts to cut climate-changing emissions, according to green campaigners.
“His administration’s move to block funding for a bipartisan effort to build out our national EV charging network is a blatant, illegal power grab,“ the Evergreen Action group said.
“This program is delivering real benefits to all 50 states — creating jobs, boosting economic opportunities, and cutting pollution.”
