European negotiators were personally targeted by their American counterparts during a brutal negotiation over green shipping rules, European Commission officials told POLITICO — a highly unusual gambit that left diplomats shaken after the meeting.
The threats were made last month, as the U.S. maneuvered to block a new effort to tax pollution at a meeting of the International Maritime Organization in London.
Eight envoys, officials and civil society observers from Europe, granted anonymity to describe the fractious closed-door discussions and protect their relationships with those involved, confirmed national delegates had reported they had been threatened with personal consequences if they went against Washington.
“Our negotiators had never seen this before in any international talks,” said one European official, who had spoken to negotiators. “People being summoned to the U.S. Embassy in London — intimidation, threats of cessation of business, threats of family members losing visas.”
