UK’s Johnson: Dealing with Biden a ‘breath of fresh air’

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson says working with President Biden on climate change is “a breath of fresh air” compared to how it was with former President Trump.

“What I will say about Joe Biden and dealing with the new American president, yes, it is a breath of fresh air in the sense of the some things on which we can really really work together. And, you knew I was gonna bring it up — climate change, he’s great on that,” Johnson told NBC’s Savannah Guthrie in an interview that aired Tuesday on the “Today” show.

“And he wants to cut CO2. He wants to get to net zero by 2050, and he shares with me, a basic view that you can do this without penalizing the economy,” Johnson added.

Biden’s approach to climate change is a stark contrast to Trump’s, who announced in 2017 that the U.S. would be withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement. On his first day in office, Biden rejoined the climate accord.

During his interview with Guthrie, Johnson also discussed the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan, as well as the recent trilateral agreement between the U.S., U.K. and Australia that has drawn the ire of France.

Guthrie noted that China has called the agreement, which will see Australia developing at least eight nuclear submarines, a provocation.

“I think that’s ridiculous,” Johnson said. “There is no need whatever for anybody to construe this as adversarial towards them. This is about technology transfer.”