Dangers of Global Governance: UN Aims for Global Carbon Tax on Shipping – The American Spectator | USA News and PoliticsThe American Spectator

It is probable that most Americans have never heard of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which bills itself as “the United Nations specialized agency with responsibility for safety and security of shipping and the prevention of marine and atmospheric pollution by ships.” The IMO’s website features an article and video urging nations to join the “green shipping revolution,” which requires “bold actions … to reduce GHG [Greenhouse Gas] emissions and combat climate change.”

According to Alex Epstein, who recently appeared on Donald Trump Jr.’s podcast, the IMO “is quietly advancing a global carbon tax on shipping that could double overseas freight costs for Americans” and “funnel billions into U.N.-controlled climate funds while bypassing Congress.” This is one of the ways that the U.N. attempts to redistribute global wealth under the guise of “saving the planet.” And it is yet another example of the perils of global governance. (RELATED: Climate ‘Changists’ Cashing In, European-Style)

Epstein notes that the projected $150 per ton carbon tax would effectively double the fuel costs for large container ships, which would translate into an increase in the price of food, fuel, clothing, and other goods worldwide, and especially in the United States, which is the world’s largest importer of goods.

Epstein estimates that the IMO’s carbon tax would add $1.29 to the price of a gallon of gasoline. This scheme, which would impose taxes on American consumers without their consent or input, was backed by the Biden administration, which made combating climate change a top priority. (RELATED: Getting Back to an ‘America First’ Energy Policy)

Epstein suggests that the “America First” Trump State Department should withdraw U.S. support for the IMO climate action strategy, vote “No” at the upcoming IMO meeting, and urge allies to vote “No.” He further notes that Trump’s EPA and the Coast Guard can refuse to enforce the IMO’s carbon tax if it passes at the U.N., and the U.S. Senate can pass a resolution insisting that any such carbon tax requires Senate confirmation (like all treaties).

Most Americans would be shocked to learn that an international organization can effectively impose taxes on them without the consent of Congress. After all, in elementary school, we learned that one of the major reasons for going to war with Great Britain to achieve independence was the British Empire’s imposition of taxes on the colonies without their consent (“No taxation without representation”).

In a broader sense, this U.N.-IMO carbon tax scheme pits those world leaders and U.S. politicians who favor increased global governance against nationalist leaders like President Trump, who promote policies that favor their own countries. (RELATED: Trump, Populism, and the Ruling Class)

This phenomenon is not new. The global governance movement has been gaining steam since the First World War, advanced exponentially after the Second World War, and advanced even more with the end of colonial empires and the creation of new countries that sought a greater voice in global politics. (RELATED: To Govern in Mankind’s Foreign Policy Interest or in Trump’s America First Interest?)

The growth in power of the European Union (EU) at the expense of the sovereignty of its individual members is one manifestation of global governance. Another manifestation of this phenomenon is the influence of groups like the World Economic Forum (WEF), whose agenda is a type of world government composed of elites from several countries to enforce the so-called “rules-based international order.” (RELATED: A Better Alternative To the Davos Elites)

Those in the United States who support the U.N.-IMO carbon tax and other such schemes were characterized by Rael Jean Isaac and Eric Isaac as “the coercive utopians” in a book with that title published in 1983. The coercive utopians believe they can create a perfect society and an “ideal order” if only they are given free rein to transform society. They are our “betters” who know what is best for us. They seek to expunge the “evils of the present social order,” and included among those “evils” back then and today are fossil fuels.

Today’s coercive utopians consider themselves citizens of the world, guardians of humanity, protectors of the planet. They filled the ranks of the Obama and Biden administrations. They regularly pay homage to the views of the “international community.” For them, nationalism is too parochial. Global governance is their religion. They are the very antithesis of America First.

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