Trump uses energy speech to outline general election pitch

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump unveiled an "America first" energy plan he said would unleash unfettered production of oil, coal, natural gas and other energy sources to push the United States toward energy independence.

But the speech, delivered at the annual Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismarck went far beyond energy, as Trump laid out, in his most detail to date, a populist general-election pitch against likely rival Hillary Clinton.

"She's declared war on the American worker," Trump said of Clinton, reading from prepared remarks in a stadium packed with thousands. He later said he'd subject any proposed policy to a simple test: "Is this best for the American worker?"

Trump painted the election as a choice between sharing in this great energy wealth or sharing in the poverty promised by Hillary Clinton."

"Hillary Clinton's agenda is job destruction. My agenda is job creation," he said.

On energy, Trump promised to cancel the Paris climate agreement and stop all payments of U.S. tax money to a United Nations fund to mitigate effects of climate change worldwide.