Newsom Slams Trump’s “Disgraceful” COP30 No-Show as US Skips Climate Summit

The absence of any senior US officials at this week’s UN Climate Change Conference in Belem, Brazil, has not gone unnoticed, especially by California Governor Gavin Newsom, who used the stage to deliver a scathing critique of President Donald Trump’s climate stance.

“This is an abomination. It’s a disgrace,” Newsom said on Tuesday, calling out Trump’s refusal to send top-level representatives to the COP30 summit. “I  come here with humility, coming from the United States. I’m very mindful that the Trump administration has abandoned any sense of duty, responsibility or leadership as it relates to the issues that bring us all here together.”

While the Trump administration opted out, several US state and local leaders attended the event to signal that American climate action is still alive, just not in Washington. Newsom, long a Democratic foil to Trump and a likely 2028 presidential contender, cast California as the counterpoint.

“I’m here because I don’t want the United States of America to be a footnote at this conference,” he said. “We recognise our responsibility, and we recognise our opportunity.”

The governor framed California as a bipartisan climate pioneer, invoking Republican icons Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon for their roles in early air and water protection. “Rather than complaining about it,” he added, “we’re trying to do something about it.”

Newsom’s appearance at COP30 comes at a pivotal moment in his career. Term-limited and set to leave office after 2026, he’s been carefully building an international profile, from a high-profile 2023 trip to China to his televised debate with Florida’s Ron DeSantis. With Trump back in the White House, the contrast couldn’t be sharper.

On Tuesday, Newsom accused Trump of ceding global leadership to rivals.

“ China is here. Only one country’s not here: United States of America,” he said, warning that Trump’s retreat from climate commitments gives Beijing an opening to dominate clean energy markets.

“This is not about electric power. This is about economic power. And we, in the state of California, are not going to cede that race to China,” Newsom said.

Since his return to power, Trump has rolled back climate initiatives, dismissed global warming as a “hoax,” and pushed an aggressive fossil-fuel agenda. His campaign slogan, “Drill, baby, drill,” has become policy.

On the same day Newsom spoke in Brazil, The Washington Post reported that Trump’s administration is weighing a plan to reopen offshore oil drilling along California’s coast, a move Newsom called “dead on arrival.”

“He intentionally aligned that to the opening of COP,” the governor said. “I also think it’s remarkable that he didn’t promote it in his backyard at Mar-a-Lago. He didn’t promote it off the coast of Florida. That says everything about Donald Trump.”