U.S. ambassador to China resigns in protest over Trump’s withdrawal from Paris climate agreement

The fallout over President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement has moved beyond the environmental and political spheres and into U.S. diplomacy. David Rank, acting U.S. ambassador (Charge d’Affair) to China, resigned his post in protest after a 27-year career with the U.S. State Department. Rank served as the no. 2 at the U.S. embassy, a high-profile and vital position in one of the most important foreign service postings in the world. In refusing to execute the president’s directive to pull out of the international climate agreement, Rank cited his roles as “a parent, a patriot, and a Christian.”