US President Donald Trump has said that the United States could "conceivably" return to the Paris climate accord, although he stopped short of signalling any move in that direction.
Mr Trump said his primary concern with the Paris climate accord was that it treated the US unfairly and that if a better deal could be reached, Washington might be persuaded to rejoin.
"Frankly, it's an agreement that I have no problem with, but I had a problem with the agreement that they signed, because, as usual, they made a bad deal," Mr Trump told a news conference with Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg.
"So we can conceivably go back in," he said, adding, "it treated the United States very unfairly."
Mr Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 accord on curbing global warming emissions last June.
US President Donald Trump says the US could conceivably re-enter the Paris climate accord pic.twitter.com/tblCv2WNxp
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) January 10, 2018
The process of leaving is long and complex, and Mr Trump's comments will renew questions about whether he actually intends to withdraw or simply wants easier US emissions targets.
A full US pullout could jeopardise global efforts to limit average warming to under 2°C over pre-Industrial Revolution levels.
Read: Donald Trump and his position on climate change
At the news conference with Ms Solberg, Mr Trump presented himself as a champion of environmentalism.
"I feel very strongly about the environment," he said. "We want to have clean water, clean air, but we also want businesses that can compete."
In the year since coming to office, Mr Trump's administration has worked to ease environmental legislation, which industry considers a burden on growth.
"The Paris Accord really would have taken away our competitive edge. And we are not going to let that happen," he said.
