A federal judge on Thursday denied the Trump administration’s bid to erase a cap-and-trade agreement between California and the Canadian province of Quebec, finding the deal is voluntary and far from a treaty.
Earlier this week, the federal government argued in court the lucrative carbon trading system interferes with President Donald Trump’s ability to conduct foreign policy on greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental deals. In its lawsuit, the Trump administration accused California of trying to set its own foreign policy by arranging the nonbinding deal with Quebec.
“There is no ‘mutual government’ or ‘cession of sovereignty’ representative of a treaty,” U.S. District Judge William Shubb reacted in a 33-page ruling Thursday.