From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Melissa O’Rourke

The Trump administration is fighting to block a global carbon tax that a United Nations (UN) agency is attempting to pass quietly this week.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO), a UN body based in London, is meeting this week to adopt a so-called “Net-Zero Framework,” which would levy significant penalties on carbon dioxide emissions from ships that exceed certain limits. The Trump administration argues the proposal could raise global shipping costs by as much as 10%, ultimately driving up prices for American consumers.

“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,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a joint statement Friday.

“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 cabinet secretaries wrote.

The proposed tax is part of the IMO’s broader goal to bring global shipping to net-zero emissions “by or around” 2050. Qualifying ships that fall short of emissions targets would face taxes ranging from $100 to $380 per ton of CO2.

Notably, the tax would be paid directly by shipowners rather than governments.

The Net-Zero Framework could generate between $11 billion and $12 billion annually from 2028 through 2030, paid into a UN-controlled fund, according to University College London. Meanwhile, other estimates warn that if the global fleet misses the IMO’s targets by even 10%, the annual cost of emissions could climb to $20 to $30 billion by 2030 and potentially exceed $300 billion by 2035.

Some critics equated the proposal to “taxation without representation,” noting that an unelected committee would have the authority to set and potentially raise the tax.

The Trump administration is urging member states to reject the proposal and has threatened retaliatory measures against countries that support it. These include investigations into anti-competitive practices, visa restrictions for maritime crews, commercial and financial penalties, higher port fees for ships tied to those nations, and possible sanctions on officials promoting climate policies.

“The Trump administration is right to draw a hard line against the UN’s latest scheme to export its climate agenda through global taxes and trade barriers,” Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Isaac said the proposed carbon tax, along with other measures — including the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which requires companies to disclose environmental and social impacts — “represent an alarming attempt to impose costly, extraterritorial regulations on American businesses and consumers.”

“These measures threaten U.S. sovereignty, inflate energy and transport costs, and weaponize climate policy as a tool of economic coercion,” Isaac said. “The United States must not tolerate foreign governments using environmental pretexts to dictate how we trade, build, and move goods. President Trump’s firm stance puts American workers and energy security first, where they belong.”

Steve Milloy, senior fellow at the Energy & Environment Legal Institute, also commended the administration’s efforts to block the UN measure.

“Not only does [Trump] oppose the UN carbon tax, but he has instructed his administration to take action against nations that try to implement it against the U.S.,” Milloy told the DCNF. “I am simply in awe of his commitment to ending the international climate hoax, which has long been aimed at stealing from and otherwise crippling our country’s economy and national security.”

MxM News

President Trump warned Tuesday that Hamas will either follow through on its pledge to disarm under his 20-point Gaza peace plan or meet a violent end. “They’re going to disarm because they said they were going to disarm—and if they don’t, we will disarm them,” Trump told reporters while hosting Argentine President Javier Milei at the White House. “They know I’m not playing games.”

The president said Hamas had “misrepresented” how many bodies of deceased hostages it held after turning over just four on Monday. “If they don’t disarm, we will disarm them—and it’ll happen quickly and perhaps violently,” he said before a Cabinet Room luncheon. Trump explained that he had conveyed the warning to Hamas through emissaries, adding, “They told me, ‘Yes, sir, we’re going to disarm.’ They will disarm or we will disarm them. Got it?”

.@POTUS on Hamas: "They will disarm. And if they don't disarm, we will disarm them — and it'll happen quickly and, perhaps, violently, but they WILL disarm." pic.twitter.com/69wOMao2oX

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 14, 2025

Trump’s hard line came just hours after his return from Israel and Egypt, where he joined regional leaders to mark the cease-fire his administration brokered between Israel and Hamas following two years of war. The initial phase of the deal included Hamas releasing twenty Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and the first of three planned Israeli troop withdrawals. The agreement was hailed by world leaders gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh, though several provisions remain unsettled—among them, the timeline and enforcement of Hamas’ disarmament, the structure of a transitional Gaza government, and the makeup of an international peacekeeping force.

Despite the cease-fire, reports from Gaza Tuesday described Hamas militants using the lull to target rival militia leaders accused of collaborating with Israel, executing eight men by firing squad. Under Trump’s plan, the United States would chair a “Board of Peace” overseeing Gaza’s interim administration while transforming the territory into a special economic zone backed by Arab investment and large-scale reconstruction.

The president’s remarks underscored his readiness to enforce the deal militarily if necessary—a hallmark of Trump’s foreign policy. Having leveraged threats of force to secure earlier hostage releases, he made clear that Hamas’ disarmament is not a negotiable point but a precondition for lasting peace.