The United States on Friday joined all 192 other UN member-states in releasing a "Call to Action" to save the oceans but disassociated itself from joint efforts to combat climate change.

The declaration capped the UN's first-ever ocean conference, which opened on Monday under the shadow of the US exit from the 190-plus Paris agreement on climate change.

China treated a US governor to a red carpet reception this week, while President Donald Trump's energy chief received a low-key greeting, a signal that Beijing is ready to go around the White House in the battle against climate change.

Former U.S. president Barack Obama praised U.S. states and cities for maintaining measures against climate change in a fresh jab at his successor's decision to quit the Paris accord.

A surge in the number of voluntary commitments to take action to improve the health of the ocean by countries, businesses and civil society groups has been recorded, and more are expected as the Ocean Conference gets underway Monday, 5 June at United Nations Headquarter in New York.

US President Donald Trump wants to stay engaged on climate change and has not abandoned the issue, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Monday, days after Trump announced he was quitting the Paris accord.

The White House hit back Friday at criticism of Donald Trump's decision to scrap a major global climate deal, accusing Europe of trying to "shackle" the US economy and refusing to acknowledge climate change is real.

With the United States virtually isolated on the world stage, a string of administration officials went on the offensive Friday to justify the Republican president's decision to abandon the 195-nation Paris deal curbing global emissions.

US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord is "shameful" and a "major error", France's Laurent Fabius, who helped the negotiate 2015 deal, said Friday.

"This decision, this speech, is a shameful mistake, a major error," Fabius, the former head of the COP21, the UN's climate forum, told France 2 television. He condemned the "lies" put forward on the subject by Trump.

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that the United States is withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, prompting a furious global backlash and throwing efforts to slow global warming into doubt.

The US withdrawal from the Paris climate accord is a global setback, but China, India and Europe are willing to step up their efforts to honour the pact, Chinese state media said Friday.

President Donald Trump on Thursday announced America's withdrawal from the Paris climate deal, signaling a policy shift with wide-ranging repercussions for the climate and Washington's ties with the world.

In a highly anticipated statement from the White House Rose Garden, Trump said the United States would abandon the current deal -- but was open to negotiating a new one.