'BACK TO PLASTIC!', blares Donald Trump

Washington: US President Donald Trump proclaimed on Friday a return to plastic drinking straws against Joe Biden-promoted eco-friendly paper straws.

Trump said that he will be signing an executive order in the coming week to end the “ridiculous” paper straws, “which don’t work”.

“BACK TO PLASTIC”, he wrote on social media, reports Agence France-Presse.

During his term, Democrat Biden, the previous President of the US, announced his administration’s target to eliminate single-use plastic wares such as drinking straws by 2035 in government departments.

This is Trump’s yet another move against the Democrat’s policies implemented in view of environmental concerns. Trump had pulled the US out of the Paris Agreement soon after his ascent to the President’s office for a second term. He also pledged to “drill, baby, drill” for oil.

In his campaign rally in the 2022 election, Trump had been against the announcements of a plastic straw ban.

"They want to ban straws. Has anyone tried those paper straws? They're not working too good," he said then. He said that paper straws disintegrate.

Trump’s campaign sold paper branded paper straws with the slogan, "Liberal paper straws don't work," AFP reported.

On Thursday, Trump imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), signing an executive order, claiming that the court ordered “baseless” investigations targeting the US and its close ally Israel. Trump also claimed that the court abused its power by issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Agence France-Presse reported.

The Trump move comes two days after his meeting with the war crimes and crimes against humanity accused Netanyahu.

According to the Trump order, the court engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America as well as Israel. The order was referring to the court’s probe into war crimes by US service members in Afghanistan and Israeli troops in Gaza.