The Trump administration is reviving high-profile trade threats against countries backing the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) plan to decarbonize global shipping by 2050. The move sparks questions about whether it foreshadows more assertive posturing by the administration around international climate action. Like in 2017, President Donald Trump has pulled the US out of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, while also going further in eliminating much of the climate diplomatic arm of the US State Department ahead of COP30 in Brazil. But the specter of US retaliatory action over the IMO vote this fall and its pushback to production caps on plastics during international talks in Geneva this month suggest the US is seeking a stronger role as spoiler in global climate frameworks.