WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump raged on Friday against eco-friendly paper straws promoted by his predecessor Joe Biden, and pledged that the United States would return to using plastic ones.

`I will be signing an executive order next week ending the ridiculous Biden push for Paper Straws, which don`t work. BACK TO PLASTIC!` Trump wrote on social media.

Democrat Biden had announced a target to eliminate single-used plastic utensils like drinking straws by 2035 in government departments.

Trump`s move is the latest on environmental issues by the Republican president, who pulled out of the Paris climate change agreement soon after his inauguration for a second term and has pledged to `drill, baby, drill` for oil.The growing trend for paper drinking straws has long irritated Trump.

`They want to ban straws. Has anyone tried those paper straws? They`re not working too good,` he said during a campaign rally in the 2020 election against Biden.

`It disintegrates as you drink it, and if you have a nice tie like this tie, you`ve got no choice.

Trump`s campaign team has also sold branded plastic straws with the slogan: `Liberal paper straws don`t work.`-AFP