Rubio and Duffy Threaten IMO Member States Ahead of Climate Vote

The Trump administration is threatening to deploy some of its biggest legal penalties against countries that back the Marine Environment Protection Committee's draft CO2 emissions regulations, which are up for a final vote text week. Promoting the "activist-driven climate policies" in the IMO Net Zero Framework could result in sanctions, tariffs, port fees or crew visa restrictions, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy warned in a joint statement Friday.

In the administration's view, the framework amounts to a "European-led neocolonial export of global climate regulations." This dramatic framing might seem disproportionate to the size of the sector, which accounts for just three percent of global CO2 and barely flickered on U.S. policymakers' radars in years past. But there is much more than shipping at stake, Duffy and Rubio said. In the big picture, though it is not usually discussed as a "tax," the new Net Zero Framework will be the first and only global financial penalty of any kind for carbon emissions. If enacted, it would be a symbol of non-U.S. opinion on climate change and a new goal post for measuring every other industry's emissions.

"This will be the first time that a UN organization levies a global carbon tax on the world," wrote Duffy and Rubio. "President Trump has made it clear that the United States will not accept any international environmental agreement that unduly or unfairly burdens the United States or harms the interests of the American people."

In a statement, Rubio and Duffy said that the administration unequivocally rejects the MEPC proposal and will "not tolerate" it. An estimated 10 percent hike in global shipping cost from the carbon fee structure is too much to bear, they warned, and could be "disastrous."

To penalize countries that vote for the IMO carbon tax system, Rubio and Duffy laid out a menu of options that could be brought to bear, to include:

- Sanctions on individual officials

- Additional port fees on ships owned, operated or flagged by countries supporting the Net Zero Framework

- Investigations of "anti-competitive practices" and potential blocking of vessels from certain flagged countries, measures which would require the participation of the Federal Maritime Commission

- Visa restrictions on C-1/D maritime crewmember visas

- Commercial penalties stemming from U.S. government contracts

"We will fight hard to protect our economic interests by imposing costs on countries if they support the NZF. Our fellow IMO members should be on notice," Rubio and Duffy warned.