Trump to NYT: 'Open Mind' on Quitting Climate Accords

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he has an open mind about pulling out of world climate accords and admitted global warming may be in some way linked to human activity.

"I think there is some connectivity. Some, something. It depends on how much," he told a panel of New York Times journalists. 

Asked whether he would make good on his threat to pull the United States out of U.N. climate accords, he said: "I'm looking at it very closely. I have an open mind to it."

But he said he was also wanted to see how much the Paris climate accord "will cost our companies" and its impact on US competitiveness.

The Republican billionaire businessman has called climate change a "hoax" perpetrated by China and threatened to pull out of the agreement on limiting greenhouse gas emissions.

The accord was reached in Paris in December 2015 after negotiations involving 195 countries. The worldwide pact to battle global warming took effect on November 4.

The agreement sets a goal of limiting the rise in global temperatures to two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial revolution levels.

The United States, the second biggest emitter of greenhouse gases after China, ratified the accord in early September, with strong backing from President Barack Obama.