title: EU could respond to 'market distortions' if U.S. quits climate pact: Schulz
text: BERLIN (Reuters) - If President Donald Trump quits the Paris Climate Agreement, U.S. producers will gain a competitive advantage over their European rivals, creating market distortions to which the EU will have to respond, German Chancellor candidate Martin Schulz said. “If Mr Trump wants to leave the climate pact, then we must talk openly about trade relations and market distortions,” Schulz said, suggesting that backsliding on environmental standards could harm the U.S.’s access to the world’s largest market. Schulz is the centre-left Social Democratic party’s candidate to oust conservative Chancellor Angela Merkel in a September election. His party is currently running second in polls behind Merkel’s conservative bloc. 