Governments at the International Maritime Organization decided last year to postpone the climate plan by a year

International News via Reuters:

European Union countries agreed on Friday to keep pushing for a global price on shipping’s CO2 emissions in U.N. talks next week, setting up another potential clash with the United States over the proposal.

Governments at the International Maritime Organization decided last year to postpone the climate plan by a year, after the Trump administration strongly opposed the measure and threatened to impose sanctions and visa restrictions on delegates who supported it.

That has not stopped European countries attempting to revive the plan, according to the EU’s negotiating position for next week’s IMO talks, seen by Reuters.

EU countries “shall oppose any attempts” to remove the climate measures from being negotiated at the meeting, the document said.

EU countries will consider changes to the original carbon pricing plan if this helps gather support, the document said. However, some EU officials said they were pessimistic any compromise deal on climate measures could pass, given the firm opposition from the U.S..

Norway’s environment minister Andreas Bjelland Eriksen said that the IMO still had a chance to strike a historic deal, but had to look at “different approaches” to avoid a repeat of last year’s failure.

“Also… whether we can do some things already now and potentially postpone other parts of the regulation to a later stage, for example,” he added while speaking to journalists.

A total of 57 countries – among them, China and major shipping states including Liberia – voted to delay the carbon price at the meeting in October, versus 49 who sought to land a deal.

The supporters included European nations, Brazil and some small island countries vulnerable to climate change.

A coalition of the world’s top three ship registries, Liberia, Panama and the Marshall Islands, plus oil tanker companies including Saudi Arabia’s Bahri urged IMO members to consider alternatives to the original carbon pricing plan when they meet next week.

“Support for the framework in its current form has continued to erode” since the IMO meeting last year, they said in a statement.

The IMO decision last year split the EU, as Greece and Cyprus – each home to major shipping industries – broke ranks with the bloc and abstained in the vote, rather than supporting the EU-backed climate proposal.

Greece, Malta and Italy declined to endorse the new EU negotiating position, which was passed by a reinforced majority of EU countries, officials said.

Reporting by Kate Abnett and Jonathan Saul, additional reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo; Editing by Kirsten Donovan

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and European Union Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic signed a memorandum of understanding for a partnership on producing and securing critical minerals

International News via Reuters:

The U.S. and the European Union on Friday deepened their coordination on critical minerals as part of a broader push by Western allies to loosen China’s grip on materials crucial to advanced manufacturing.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and European Union Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic signed a memorandum of understanding for a partnership on producing and securing critical minerals.

Rubio did not mention China in his remarks, but said the preliminary agreement with Brussels reflected growing awareness among Western allies of the importance of supply chains and critical minerals for their economic success.

China has used its chokehold on the processing of many minerals as geo-economic leverage, at times curbing exports, suppressing prices and undercutting other countries’ ability to diversify sources of the materials used to make semiconductors, electric vehicles and advanced weapons.

“The over-concentration of these resources, the fact that they’re dominated by one or two places, is an unacceptable risk. We need diversity in our supply chains,” Rubio said before signing the memorandum.

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who will meet with Sefcovic separately on Friday, announced a separate action plan to coordinate trade policies on critical minerals to address what they called “the non-market policies and practices that have distorted critical minerals supply chains.”

Greer said Washington and Brussels would explore how trade measures, such as border-adjusted price floors, could strengthen domestic critical minerals industries and downstream sectors critical to industrial competitiveness.

Sefcovic told reporters at the State Department that the agreements would strengthen the transatlantic relationship and ensure faster work on their joint goals.

“I totally agree with Mr. Secretary (Rubio) that now the real test will be the execution of this project. How can we transform these agreements which we are signing into concrete, tangible projects to deliver for our business operators?”

‘PERVASIVE NON-MARKET POLICIES AND PRACTICES’

Washington and Brussels first announced their intent to develop an action plan in February when U.S. Vice President JD Vance unveiled plans to create a preferential trade bloc for critical minerals, potentially with coordinated price floors.

Washington already has signed similar action plans with Japan and Mexico.

The U.S.-EU action plan said it was imperative to address “pervasive non-market policies and practices (that) have left critical minerals supply chains of market-oriented economies vulnerable to a myriad of disruptions, including economic coercion.”

The plan said the longer-range view was on developing a plurilateral initiative with like-minded partners on trade in critical minerals that could bolster supply chain resilience for critical minerals for all.

The U.S. and EU will discuss various measures and mechanisms, it said, including coordinated trade policies and mechanisms based on reference prices, such as border-adjusted price floors, standards-based markets, price gap subsidies, or offtake agreements, focusing on mutually agreed select critical minerals and associated supply chains.

They also agreed to examine other possible measures, including standards for mining, processing, recycling, or trade in critical minerals; technical and regulatory cooperation; investment promotion and screening cooperation; and coordinated rapid responses to prevent disruptions and crises. Stockpiling cooperation is another possible measure, it said.

Reporting by Andrea Shalal and Simon Lewis; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Paul Simao