President Obama spoke by phone last night with President Xi Jinping of China to express appreciation for the important role China played in securing an historic climate agreement in Paris on December 12.  The two leaders recognized the important contributions of their joint announcement of climate targets in November 2014, their joint statement on climate in September 2015, and the close coordination of their negotiating teams in Paris for securing the agreement.  The President emphasized the importance of continuing close U.S.-China cooperation on climate change issues into the future.