During a press availability in Washington D.C. on Jan 5, U.S. Secretary John Kerry stated: "Our initiative to reach out to China changed the trajectory of possibilities after the disappointment of Copenhagen, where China had been on the other side. But because we reached out and we engaged proactively in diplomacy and we were able to reach agreement with China, our President, President Obama, and President Xi were able to stand up together in Beijing and together announce the unity of the two largest emitters in the world – emitters of gases – to come together to try to forge an agreement in Paris. And that initiative allowed us to reach the Paris Agreement, which then entered into force far more effectively and quickly than anybody in the world could have predicted."

In the meantime, White House on Jan 5 released a document titled "American Leadership in the World" highlighting President Obama's foreign policy record.