Posted on 04/05/2025 6:01:26 AM PDT by MtnClimber
The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization (IMO) has quietly embarked upon a bold initiative cloaked in the virtuous garb of climate responsibility. Ostensibly designed to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping, this global carbon levy is, in reality, a veiled taxation mechanism poised to significantly burden American consumers and businesses. What may initially appear as prudent environmental stewardship reveals itself, under scrutiny, as a dramatic expansion of global taxation, circumventing American democratic processes and redistributing wealth under UN auspices.
The mechanics of the tax are deceptively simple. Under the proposed framework, shipping companies would be required to pay a fixed fee per metric ton of carbon dioxide emitted during transoceanic voyages. This fee, expected to begin at a baseline of $100 per ton and scale over time, would be calculated based on the fuel used and the vessel's emissions profile. Crucially, this cost is not absorbed by the shipping conglomerates. It is passed down the chain of commerce—first to importers, then to wholesalers, and ultimately to the end consumers. The result is an invisible tax hike on every imported good that enters American ports, from smartphones assembled in Southeast Asia to agricultural produce from Latin America. The levy, in effect, operates as a consumption tax imposed by a foreign body on the American populace.
According to research by UNCTAD and DNV, this levy could escalate freight costs by between 71% and 85%, potentially doubling the price of shipping goods from overseas by mid-century. Such an increase is not mere statistical abstraction—it translates directly to elevated costs for everyday items, affecting everything from imported electronics to agricultural commodities. Shipping industry executives, from tanker operators to dry bulk carriers, have already begun expressing grave concerns, warning that these cost increments will inevitably cascade through supply chains, burdening American consumers and reducing corporate earnings in an already tenuous economic climate.
Beyond economic ramifications, the levy raises significant questions of democratic legitimacy. Traditionally, the power of taxation has been strictly the province of elected legislatures—explicitly, in the American context, the U.S. Congress. Yet the IMO’s method of implementing this tax is deftly designed to bypass such legislative oversight. By framing the carbon levy as amendments to MARPOL Annex VI regulations, the UN effectively sidesteps the requisite Senate ratification processes for international treaties. Consequently, this global levy could be implemented domestically through executive regulatory changes without meaningful Congressional debate or approval. This constitutes nothing less than taxation without representation, a principle that, ironically, once motivated the American colonies’ revolt against Britain....SNIP
How about NO.
Hoping this is on Trump’s targeting list for reducing of funds. As far as I care, the UN can setup shop in Paris.
How large a percentage of aggregate product value is shipping? Anyone have an idea?
Who is going to enforce this levy if we tell them to stick it?
$100 per ton, really? Can't accuse them of modesty.
IOW, it's a ruse for a money laundering scheme.
What does the U.N. plan to do with the funds collected, other than make connected individuals wealthy and fund corrupt Leftist programs?
President Trump should tell the U.N. one word: No.
How about illegal, unconstitutional and another reason to ditch the UN. This is nothing less than globalist piracy. They are no better than Somalian pirates.
Who cares?
Tell them to go #### off and it wont be an issue.
Who’s gonna enforce it, the UN army?
How America plans to tell the un to stuff it
I need to commandeer this vehicle!
ummm, no.
UN threatening USA is like the boy scouts threatening the Hell’s Angels. Good luck with that....fool.
They won’t be collecting anything from our sovereign nation. We are not under un control
Meant o add, we will tax them higher- they will run the day they tried to strong arm pur nation
Rue the day- dang autocorrect
It’s going to encourage yet more at home manufacturing and boost our economy.
It won’t hurt us like they expect it to.
The next Globohomo President would enforce it. The countries with the largest economies would pay for it, meaning US. Developing and Muslim countries would be exempt. The Chinese would find a way around it.
I’m impressed at how environmental concerns have become so perverted that this could even have been proposed.
And yet tariffs are bad.
Trump should just re-label his tariffs as a carbon tax.
If we have electric ships with sails, windmills and solar panels, no problem!..............
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