Saying President Donald Trump has abdicated his responsibilities on climate change, California Gov. Gavin Newsom met with world and business leaders Wednesday to advance climate action and clean energy on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly.
State and local governments are leading, he said, as “Trump is trying to recreate the 19th century” by reopening coal plants, announcing new plans for oil drilling including off California, and centering
his energy policy on fossil fuels that cause climate change.
“He’s doubling down on stupid, and he’s putting the American economy at risk,” Newsom said in an interview. He called Trump the most destructive environmental president in American history and “an invasive species.”
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers used Trump’s derogatory nickname for the governor, “Newscum,” in responding to the comments. She said his “doubling down on Biden’s unpopular, unreliable and costly Green New Scam is stupid.”
“No one is surprised to see him whining about the climate change hoax at another conference instead of fixing the problems plaguing his state: out-of-control crime, the highest homeless population in the United States, and wildfire victims still waiting on state permits to rebuild their homes and businesses,” Taylor wrote in an email.
Newsom, a Democrat eyeing a 2028 presidential run, has sought to counter Trump’s stance on climate issues before. He went to the U.N. climate talks hosted in Belem, Brazil in 2025 when Trump skipped it.
Trump prioritizes fossil fuels to produce electricity. The Biden administration sought to ramp up clean energy as a climate change solution. Trump began reversing U.S. energy policies his first day back in office.
Last year at the UN, Trump called climate change the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world.” He has hindered renewable energy, particularly offshore wind, while China and other countries invest heavily. China leads the world in adding wind and solar power, though it also added a lot of coal power last year.
Chinese President Xi Jinping begins his state visit to Washington Wednesday. As the economic and technological competition between the countries escalates, Newsom said the Chinese leader is "cleaning our clock from an economic perspective.”
Trump and Xi are expected to discuss artificial intelligence as they meet this week. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the U.S. has proposed a new “ notification mechanism ” for AI incidents that could affect national security.
Newsom was critical of Trump for not doing more to add guardrails and instead listening to advice to let artificial intelligence “rip.” Newsom announced Wednesday a group of experts who will advise on oversight recommendations in California, including advancing the creation of a potential “kill switch” for rogue frontier models.
Trump was in New York on Tuesday. Unlike last year's climate-focused speech, Trump defended his actions against Iran as he spoke at the U.N. General Assembly and made the diplomatic rounds.
Newsom is scheduled to speak at the United Nations on Wednesday. While in New York, he signed a new agreement with Spain's prime minister to strengthen collaboration on clean energy and climate issues and announced progress to link carbon markets with Washington state.
“California is not going to sit back and watch this guy roll back the last half century. We’re going to lead the next great revolution,” Newsom said.
“We’re going to dominate and we’re going to out compete and we are going to prepare the economy," he said, "not just in California, but the rest of the nation, for the fierce competitive fight against China as we move forward in this space.”
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