Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Wednesday they personally called countries to push them to block a carbon emissions fee on global shipping last week.
Wright said he phoned 20 countries while Rollins handled nations like Antigua and Jamaica in what she characterized as an “all hands on deck” order from the White House to kill the International Maritime Organization vote on a carbon emission levy last Friday.
“We’re going to come back to realistic views on energy,” Wright said Wednesday at an event hosted by America First Policy Institute. “That’s a win not just for America, that’s a win for the world.”
Wright said Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were also involved in the late-stage campaign to nix the shipping levy. Wright said he personally wrote the Truth Social message that President Donald Trump posted — after Trump changed “three or four words on it” — that shook the negotiations in London one day before the scheduled vote.
