Donald Trump has been urged not to abandon a landmark climate change deal amid speculation he is set to withdraw from the global pact.

The 'Paris accord' to reduce carbon emissions, was agreed in the 2015, and signed by nearly 200 countries.

On Wednesday, the US President tweeted that he will announce his decision on the agreement "over the next few days".

If Mr Trump opts to abandon the Paris deal he would be fulfilling one of the central campaign pledges that he made during the US presidential race

He has previously described climate change as a hoax by the Chinese to damage US manufacturing.

In response, European Union leaders and China have reiterated the importance of the climate change deal.

China's Premier Li Keqiang said fighting climate change is a "global consensus" and "international responsibility".

Speaking after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he said: "It's not invented by China... and we realise that this is a global consensus agreement.

"As a big developing nation we should shoulder our international responsibility."

China has said it will work with the EU to uphold the international agreement on climate change even if the US withdraws.

Mrs Merkel said she was pleased China is committed to sticking to its climate treaty obligations.

The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, has also encouraged Mr Trump not to "change the (political) climate for the worse".

Russia has also spoken out ahead of Mr Trump's decision with a Kremlin statement saying the Paris agreement would be less effective without the major participants.

World leaders spent years in difficult negotiations to produce the Paris accord - signed by nearly 200 nations, including the US under Barack Obama - to reduce carbon emissions.

A voluntarily promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in an effort to combat climate change was agreed in 2015.

If the US opts to leave it will leave them aligned only with Russia among the world's industrialised economies to reject the action to combat climate change.