Trump blocks global shipping climate tax
A historic effort to tax climate pollution from shipping was derailed by a U.S. diplomatic push, personally led by President Donald Trump.
A fractious meeting of the International Maritime Organization in London ended Friday with a decision to adjourn for a year, after Saudi Arabia, backed by Russia, pushed for a pause, News.Az reports citing Politico.
That means the effort to set binding international rules to cut greenhouse gases from shipping — responsible for about 3 percent of global emissions — goes into the deep freeze for a year. During that time, the U.S. and other opponents can try to rally more support to kill it completely.
The move followed an extended pressure campaign from the United States marked by threats of tariffs and other economic penalties. It is also a huge setback for the European Union, which failed to push through the measure and even saw some of its member countries abstain.
“Commonsense prevailed,” a senior U.S. State Department official said in an email. “The Trump Administration will not stand for the UN or any organization forcing American taxpayers to foot the bill for their environmental pet projects.”
European Commission Executive Vice President Teresa Ribera called the delay “a huge shame,” in a social media post. The EU and Brazil had been publicly backing the move ahead of COP30 global climate talks next month, hosted by Brazil.
The proposal up for approval at the IMO, the U.N. agency that regulates global shipping, was meant to incentivize countries to shift toward using cleaner fuels in a bid to zero out carbon emissions from shipping by 2050. It would have increased the financial burden on polluting ships over time. Fees collected would go to help fund the shift to greener fuels and support developing countries.
The White House had objected for months, with Trump himself weighing in on Thursday in a post on Truth Social that he was “outraged” by the effort. “The United States will NOT stand for this Global Green New Scam Tax on Shipping,” he said.
It comes as the United States grows increasingly hostile in its approach to climate measures, with Trump calling climate change a “con job” and urging other countries to drop efforts to invest in renewable energy.
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