Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX, has followed through on his threat to quit the White House councils in which he served as an adviser.

He had lobbied the Trump administration for months to stay in the Paris accord.

Former Vice-President Al Gore, who directed climate-change documentary An Inconvenient Truth, has put out a statement.

"Civic leaders, mayors, governors, CEOs, investors and the majority of the business community will take up this challenge.

"We are in the middle of a clean energy revolution that no single person or group can stop."

Gore met with Trump and Ivanka Trump at Trump Tower in New York in December during his transition into the presidency.

Image source, Getty Images

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says he looks forward to the US re-entering an amended accord.

However, just the other day, Senator Graham urged Trump to keep the US in the Paris agreement, saying that if he backed out it would signal to the world he believes climate change is a hoax.

Rajini Vaidyanathan, who attended dozens of Trump's campaign event during the 2016 election, remarks that he sounds a bit like his old electioneering self today.

Trump's director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, is on CNN now in a combative interview with presenter Jake Tapper.

Pruitt earlier took to the microphone after Trump to praise the president for "putting America first in all that you do".

"The people of this nation are rulers of this country once again", he said, adding that "we owe no apologies to other nations".

Top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell wrote: "I applaud President Trump and his administration for dealing yet another significant blow to the Obama Administration’s assault on domestic energy production and jobs.

"Today’s move builds on action Congress took to rebuff then-President Obama’s regulatory rampage, which put American jobs at risk.

"President Trump has once again put families and jobs ahead of left-wing ideology and should be commended for his action.”

Trump said just now that he was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.

It was a catchy soundbite, but another man elected to represent the citizens of the Pennsylvania city begs to differ.

"This choice will rightly be remembered as one of the most shameful any president has made," says former Secretary of State John Kerry, who served in the Vietnam War.

But he adds "the president's abdication of responsibly complicates the US climate efforts, but it doesn't kill it.

"Today is the day for cities, states, and businesses of all sizes to publicly commit to 'Live by Paris'".

The White House has sent out a memo citing "widespread praise" for the decision.

It quotes Trump cabinet members and some Republican members of Congress.

But other US politicians are unimpressed with Trump's announcement - and not just the Democrats...

But others are refusing to give up just yet, calling on the country to continue in its fight against climate change regardless.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo just tweeted this...

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo released this statement just after Trump finished speaking:

"The White House's reckless decision to withdraw from the Paris Accord has devastating repercussions not only for the United States, but for our planet.

"This administration is abdicating its leadership and taking a backseat to other countries in the global fight against climate change.

"New York State is committed to meeting the standards set forth in the Paris Accord regardless of Washington's irresponsible actions."

Trump says "cash-strapped cities cannot hire enough police officers".

"Millions of dollars that ought to be invested right here in America will be sent to the very countries that have taken our factories and our jobs away from us.

"So think of that."

"As president I have one obligation and that obligation is to the American people.

"The Paris accord would undermine our economy, hamstring our workers, weaken our sovereignty, impose unacceptable legal risk, and put us at a permanent disadvantage to the other countries of the world.

"It is time to exit the Paris accord," he concludes to applause, "and time to pursue a new deal that protects the environment, our citizens, and our country."

Matt McGrath
Environment correspondent, BBC News, Paris

What will a US withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement mean for the rest of the world?

• will hurt the deal and the world
• presents China with an opportunity
• global business leaders will be disappointed
• coal unlikely to make a comeback
• US emissions will still fall

Read Matt in full

The president says "it is my highest obligation and great honour" to protect the US constitution.

Trump adds: "The Paris framework is just a starting point - bad as it is - not an end point.

"Exiting the agreement protects the US from future intrusions on our sovereignty."

The United Nations' Green Climate Fund, Trump says, is a scam to take money from the US.

"So we're gonna pay billions and billions and billions of dollars," he says sarcastically.

The US "under the Trump administration will continue to be the cleanest and most environmentally friendly country on earth", Trump asserts.

"It'll be the cleanest."

Trump says other countries cheered when the US signed up to the Paris deal because it put the US at such a "disadvantage".

"They went wild. They were so happy."

"We don't want other countries" laughing at us, he adds.