China may soon fill the leadership vacuum that President Donald Trump leaves on the world stage as he is expected to sign a new executive order Tuesday that seeks to dismantle much of the work on climate change enacted by his predecessor. That work was aimed at helping the United States meet its carbon emissions targets in the landmark Paris climate agreement.

Trump's order begins the process of rescinding the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era regulation of U.S. power plant emissions. It also takes steps to downplay the future costs of carbon emissions, walks back tracking of the federal government’s carbon emissions, rescinds a 2016 moratorium on coal leases on federal lands, and strikes down Obama-era executive