UN Body Votes to Postpone Decision on Global Carbon Tax Amid US Opposition

This came as Saudi Arabia tabled a motion on Oct. 17 to defer the vote by one year.

Port Newark–Elizabeth Marine Terminal in Elizabeth, N.J., on Sept. 11, 2025. Samira Bouaou /The Epoch Times

The United Nations body specializing in regulating global shipping voted on Oct. 17 to delay a vote on the adoption of a proposed framework that would impose a global carbon tax on international shipping—a regulation the United States has strongly opposed.

Member states of the U.N.-backed International Maritime Organization (IMO) were set to approve the proposal on Oct. 17 when Saudi Arabia, which has voiced opposition to the plan, tabled a motion to defer the vote by one year. The motion was passed with 57 votes in favor and 49 against.

The proposed net-zero framework would have required ships to comply with a global fuel standard for large oceangoing vessels of more than 5,000 gross tonnage, as part of an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the global shipping industry to net zero by 2050.

The IMO proposal has drawn strong opposition from the United States, the world’s largest oil producer.

President Donald Trump said ahead of the IMO vote that the United States would neither support a carbon tax on global shipping nor adhere to the plan “in any way, shape, or form.”

“I am outraged that the International Maritime Organization is voting in London this week to pass a global Carbon Tax,” he said in a Truth Social post on Oct. 16, calling on others to reject the proposal.

“We will not tolerate increased prices on American Consumers or, the creation of a Green New Scam Bureaucracy to spend your money on their Green dreams.”

There are 176 member states of the IMO, but a passing vote would require a two-thirds majority of only the 108 member states that ratified previous legislation aiming to reduce shipping pollution.

IMO has stated that the framework, due to take effect in 2027 if adopted, would be “the first in the world” to combine mandatory emissions limits and greenhouse gas pricing across an entire industry sector.

An Oct. 10 joint statement by U.S. State Secretary Marco Rubio, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the United States would not support any international agreement that “harms the interests of the American people.”

“The Administration unequivocally rejects this proposal before the IMO and will not tolerate any action that increases costs for our citizens, energy providers, shipping companies and their customers, or tourists,” the officials said in the statement.

“The economic impacts from this measure could be disastrous, with some estimates forecasting global shipping costs increasing as much as 10% or more,” they added.

They said the U.S. government was weighing possible actions against nations supporting the IMO proposal, including potentially blocking vessels registered under those countries from entering U.S. ports, imposing visa restrictions on maritime crews, and imposing commercial penalties on ships flagged under nations backing the net-zero regulations.

T.J. Muscaro and Reuters contributed to this report.