"There was always some doubt as to whether the U.S. could meet its target for emissions reduction established by the Paris Agreement," Michael Swaine, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Xinhua via email.

However, the formal withdrawal from the document would send an unambiguous message to the world that Washington abrogates its leading role in tackling such problems, Swaine said.

Minutes after Trump revealed his decision, Obama said in a statement that the Trump administration joins "a small handful of nations that reject the future."

The Paris Agreement of climate change, agreed on by almost every country in the world in 2017 after lengthy negotiations, aims to tackle climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions and sets a global target of keeping the rise in the average temperature no higher than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

A letter signed by 25 major U.S. firms runs as a full-page ad in Washington, D.C. newspapers on Thursday, part of a last-ditch effort to convince Trump that sticking with the agreement would be better for the economy.

"By expanding markets for innovative clean technologies, the agreement generates jobs and economic growth," the letter says. "U.S. companies are well positioned to lead in these markets."

Apple, Google, Facebook, Gap, Microsoft, and Unilever have all signed the letter.

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