U.S. diplomats at the 84th session of the International Maritime Organization’s Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 84) successfully delivered on President Trump’s America First foreign policy by forcing the organization to negotiate on alternative proposals that will not harm American consumers and businesses. By leading discussions at the IMO, the U.S. coalition forced the body to authorize future negotiations that examine multiple alternative proposals that remove the global carbon tax.
The United States remains strongly opposed to the Net-Zero Framework (NZF), a fundamentally flawed proposal that would have imposed a global carbon tax on American consumers and our shipping and energy industries.
The U.S., Saudi, Liberian, Panamanian, and Argentine coalition successfully brokered a diplomatic path forward that protects American workers and trade. The committee’s approval to hold a working group session to further discuss alternative proposals—including those from Japan, Panama, Argentina, and Liberia, which represent more than 30 percent of global tonnage—signals a total collapse in support for the original NZF proposal.
By continuing to chart a way out of the NZF impasse, America and its partners at the IMO are protecting the global shipping industry and moving international organizations to abandon unrealistic policy measures in favor of pragmatic solutions.
