Gavin Newsom called Donald Trump’s rollback on climate action an “abomination” and warned the US president was scoring an “own goal” by ceding clean energy technology to China, as the California governor toured the UN COP30 summit. 

Newsom, seen as a likely candidate for the Democratic presidential race in 2028, was the most senior US politician at COP30, after the Trump administration decided against sending a US official to the summit in the Amazonian port city of Belém.

Across packed events during Tuesday, Newsom repeatedly criticised Trump while pledging that California remained committed to climate action. He framed the attack as an economic issue and a blow to US competitiveness against China on technologies such as electric vehicles, solar energy and batteries.