United States President Donald Trump has declared that his administration will resist attempts by international institutions to impose global taxes, while calling on countries to withdraw from the International Criminal Court.
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Trump spoke on Tuesday during his address to the 81st Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he criticised what he described as the growing influence of unelected global bureaucracies over sovereign nations.
He recalled his administration’s opposition to a proposed international framework for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from ships, which was being considered by the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations agency responsible for regulating international shipping.
“Over the last year, my administration was forced to step in to stop a UN body, the International Maritime Organization, from secretly establishing the first-ever global carbon tax—a very expensive tax—to increase the cost of international shipping by 10 to 20 per cent and perhaps more than that,” Trump said.
“There is no global government, and as long as I am President, there will be no global taxes,” he added.
The measure referenced by Trump was contained in the proposed IMO Net-Zero Framework, designed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from international shipping by setting global fuel standards and imposing charges on vessels that exceeded prescribed emission limits.
The draft framework was finalised in April 2025 and scheduled for formal consideration during an extraordinary meeting of the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee in October 2025.
However, the meeting ended without adopting the proposal after member countries voted to adjourn consideration for one year amid sharp divisions and pressure from Washington.
The United States and Saudi Arabia had opposed the framework, with the Trump administration warning that it could impose tariffs, visa restrictions and additional port charges on countries supporting the measure.
Although Trump characterised the proposal as a “global carbon tax,” the IMO said it was intended to operate as a global incentive and funding arrangement for the decarbonisation of shipping rather than a uniform tax imposed on governments or individuals.
The framework would have applied primarily to large oceangoing vessels exceeding 5,000 gross tonnage, which account for a substantial proportion of carbon emissions from international shipping.
During the same UN address, Trump intensified his administration’s opposition to the International Criminal Court, describing it as an “out-of-control institution” with no authority over the United States.
“The United States is equally opposed to the out-of-control institution known as the International Criminal Court,” Trump said.
“We will never allow US service members or anyone else to be investigated or given show trials by an anti-American tribunal with no jurisdiction over us.”
Trump subsequently urged countries that are parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty establishing the ICC, to withdraw from the court.
“I call on all nations and members of the ICC to officially resign from this rogue institution immediately,” he said.
The United States signed the Rome Statute in 2000 but later announced that it did not intend to become a party to the treaty. Washington consequently does not recognise the ICC’s jurisdiction over American citizens without its consent, although the court maintains that it may exercise jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed on the territory of a member state or a country that has otherwise accepted its authority.
The ICC, based in The Hague, investigates and prosecutes individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression where national authorities are unwilling or unable genuinely to prosecute such cases.
Trump also accused UN officials of concentrating on domestic policies pursued by his administration instead of what he described as serious atrocities occurring in different parts of the world.
“With all the genuine atrocities in the world, UN staff and officials spend their time criticising the United States for protecting our children from transgender insanity and enforcing immigration laws,” he said.
Trump’s remarks formed part of a broader 37-minute address in which he defended his administration’s foreign and domestic policies, criticised international regulatory institutions and emphasised national sovereignty over multilateral control.
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