US President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate accord, prompting widespread criticism from allies, business leaders and environmentalists, a report said.

In a speech from the Rose Garden, Trump said the landmark 2015 pact imposed wildly unfair environmental standards on American businesses and workers, BBC reported.

He vowed to stand with the American people against what he called a “draconian” international deal.

“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris,” Trump said, adding that moves to negotiate a new "fair" deal that would not disadvantage US workers would begin.

Trump claimed the agreement would cost the US $3 trillion in lost GDP and 6.5 million jobs. "We don't want other leaders and other countries laughing at us any more - and they won't be," he said

Within minutes of Trump's remarks, the leaders of France, Germany and Italy issued a joint statement saying that the Paris climate accord was “irreversible” and could not be renegotiated, reported The New York Times.

Opponents say withdrawing from the accord is an abdication of US leadership on a key global challenge.

The Paris agreement commits the US and 187 other countries to keeping rising global temperatures below 2C above pre-industrial levels. Only Syria and Nicaragua did not sign up to the deal.