Australia urges Trump not to quit Paris climate pact

As a candidate, Mr Trump said climate change was a "hoax" invented by the Chinese.

In Washington there is widespread uncertainty about Mr Trump's pending decision. Globalists in the administration including Mr Tillerson, economic adviser Gary Cohn, son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump, have reportedly lobbied the President to stay in the deal.

On the other side of the divisive debate, arch nationalists and global warming sceptics, chief strategist Stephen Bannon and Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt, are pressuring Mr Trump to drop out.

In Canberra, the assessment is that because more senior administration members favour remaining in the pact, there is unlikely to be a catastrophic US withdrawal that could unravel the entire global agreement.

There is an assumption in Canberra and Washington that Mr Trump will at least try to renegotiate parts of the deal, such as possibly by weakening former president Barack Obama's voluntary pledge to cut US carbon emissions by 26-28 per cent on 2005 levels by 2025.

The Prime Minister's office declined to comment on whether Malcolm Turnbull had raised the Paris deal in his first bilateral meeting with Mr Trump in early May.

At a Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Wednesday, opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong pressed senior bureaucrats to divulge whether the Turnbull government had submitted a view to the Trump administration about the potential consequences of a US withdrawal.

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Secretary Frances Adamson said she was not aware of specific discussions and it was a matter for the Trump administration. DFAT environment ambassador Patrick Suckling said the US understood the importance to the government of the Paris agreement.

Paul Bledsoe, a former White House adviser to president Bill Clinton and now an energy policy expert at American University, said: "I would implore Prime Minister Turnbull to explain to President Trump how important the agreement is to Australia and the world."

Earlier, a spokeswoman for Ms Bishop said: "The government has consistently confirmed that Australia is committed to the Paris agreement and Australia's emissions reduction targets."

Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg met Mr Trump's EPA head and climate change sceptic, Mr Pruitt, in Washington in April. Mr Frydenberg told Mr Pruitt Australia was sticking to its emissions cut pledge but did not express a view on what the US should do.

Mr Trump and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel have exchanged in swipes at each other in speeches and on social media in recent days, triggering further angst that Mr Trump could retaliate by quitting the Paris deal.

Dr Merkel said on the weekend, "The times in which we could rely fully on others, they are somewhat over".

Mr Trump complained that the US runs a "MASSIVE" trade deficit with Germany and that Dr Merkel paid far less than she should in military support for NATO, which he said was "very bad".