White House Rails Against IMO Carbon Talks and Threatens Retaliation

At the final hour, the Trump administration has struck out against IMO plans for a global carbon tax on shipping, threatening to retaliate against an "unfair" standard that would treat all maritime carbon emissions equally around the world.

The response is in line with the administration's combative rhetoric towards carbon regulations and restrictive international agreements, but it is a stark departure from the neutral tone that U.S. negotiators previously maintained before the talks, which began Monday and end this Friday. It is unclear whether senior White House leadership was involved in formulating the more accommodating U.S. negotiating position that American representatives projected in the runup to this week's MEPC meeting in London.

"Should such a blatantly unfair measure go forward, our government will consider reciprocal measures so as to offset any fees charged to U.S. ships and compensate the American people for any other economic harm from any adopted GHG emissions measures," the White House wrote in a last-minute warning to other national delegations. "We must be clear the U.S. rejects any and all efforts to impose economic measures against its ships based on GHG emissions or fuel choice."

Any U.S. acceptance of a tax on shipping's GHG emissions - the first global carbon levy of any kind - would have been in deep conflict with existing White House policy. President Donald Trump campaigned against climate action and withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement on the first day of his second term, and he has actively promoted the production and use of fossil fuels - even lending his personal support for the renewed use of coal for power generation.

The administration also wants to reduce the market power of Chinese shipyards, which lead the market and would stand to benefit from any IMO incentives for green retrofits and newbuilds. China's state-owned CSSC is the world's largest commercial shipbuilder, and merchant vessel orders cross-subsidize its warship deliveries for the PLA Navy, the U.S. Navy's pacing threat.