Donald Trump said Tuesday he would have skipped the Paris climate summit, arguing there were more important things to do.
In an interview with the NH1 News Network, Trump said that terrorism is the country’s biggest threat, not climate change, adding that he “probably would not have gone” to Paris.
President Obama helped open the summit, and on Tuesday predicted the next president would stick to what ever pledges he makes whether his successor is a Democrat or Republican.
{mosads}The future president, Obama said, will realize “that American leadership involves not just playing to American constituency back home, but you now are in fact at the center of what happens around the world.”
Trump’s comments to NH1 came as part of its Fiscal Fridays TV series and focused on his economic plans.
The GOP presidential frontrunner hailed his own tax plan, arguing it would lower taxes and bring back jobs to the United States.
He also said he would seek as president to cut “waste, fraud, and abuse.”
While Trump’s plan has been praised by some Republicans, a report by the conservative-leaning group Tax Foundation has estimated it would add $12 trillion to the budget deficit over a decade.
Trump also vowed to protect Social Security and Medicare benefits and criticized Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, two rivals for the GOP presidential nomination for calling for reforms to the program such as raising the retirement age.
“We’re going to run it professionally. The people that have Social Security with me are going to keep their Social Security,” said Trump, who added that he doesn’t want to raise the retirement age.
If he’s elected president, Trump said he would freeze federal spending and consider cuts to the U.S. Department of Education and the Environmental Protection Agency. He also said that he would eliminate the Common Core education standards, adding that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s support of the federal curriculum will lose him the election.