During campaigning Trump said he would “cancel” the Paris climate agreement, an historic accord initially agreed upon by around 200 countries including the US and China last winter in order to tackle climate change. The US officially ratified their part of the agreement in September.
Trump once stated that “global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S manufacturing non-competitive”, but his stance now appears to have softened judging by his conversation with Löfven.
“It was a positive call. He acknowledged that our countries should continue to cooperate, he praised Sweden and had a very positive view on Sweden,” Löfven told Aftonbladet TV.
“He confirmed his view that he wants to be ‘open-minded’ on the Paris agreement. I think it’s very important that the USA hangs in there. Then we spoke very briefly on security work,” he added.
Trump's comment to the Swedish PM echoed his refusal to repeat previous promises to abandon the climate accord in an interview with the New York Times earlier this week. “I’m looking at it very closely. I have an open mind to it,” he told the newspaper.
Löfven was open in his support of Hillary Clinton during the US presidential race, and in the immediate aftermath of the election he said the result “worries a lot of individuals”.
Asked by Aftonbladet TV if he is now less concerned about the new American administration, the PM was cautious.
“There are many things in the forthcoming administration’s policy which require clarification. That work is ongoing just now and that’s why we need to have and have early contact with the administration, then we have the opportunity to engage in a dialogue,” he noted.
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