“One wonders what executive order he could sign that would stop this.”
Take away much of the power of the EPA.
Much of this move was anticipated because Carrier, Trane and others who deal with refrigerants pay a hefty penalty to the EPA, not only in the transportation of the R refrigerants (on rail car) into and out of their facility, but also in the manufacture of the compressing units is my understanding.
It is just too costly to deal with the EPA here in the United States, and the liability is too high. Investors (banks) want nothing to do with anyone with such high environmental liability, especially since the government is so hostile to any company that may run afoul of the EPA or other regulations, not only those in play currently, but the regulations can change monthly, crippling a company in an instant, and there is nothing that the state or congress can do about it, since the EPA has no congressional oversight.
UTC made $1.1B in profit last year. I think they weren't having a problem with "too costly".