Trump's Coming Carbon Tax
Every "tax" exists to provide a "credit"...
Eventually, we get a "carbon tax" under Trump: not in 2025, surely, but by 2028, we should have "carbon tax" legislation signed.
Why Trump Admin Need a Carbon Tax?
The Trump admin need a carbon tax for a simple reason: to make basel0ad nuclear power plants profitable and even provide the incentives necessary for a fuel cells replace diesel engines in trucking.
Financing nuclear power requires massive capital investment over a long term. Fuel cells likewise require subsidies - those would have to be paid-for by someone other than the US taxpayer/consumer.
Need a Better Option Than Raising Utility Rates
Conventionally, utilities would have to raise rates and impose cost on end-users to finance the massive nuclear capital expenditure.
High utility rates contradict the mandate to increase manufacturing and purchasing power of Americans, though.
Carbon Tax - ON FOREIGN Carbon Intensity
Trump will eventually, and with hardly any opposition, succeed in imposing a "carbon tax" on energy-intensive imports from countries with a "high" carbon intensity.
The bill, "The Foreign Pollution Fee Act", is already here:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/1325/tex
Foreign Pollution Fee Act
This CARBON TAX, albeit only on imported carbon-intensive goods, explicitly mentions the 3x and 5x carbon intensity of equivalent Chinese and Russian industries, respectively.
Thus, implied in the Foreign Pollution Fee Act, is at the very least a "capping", if not an incentive to "lower" American carbon intensity, to track changes in China and Russia.
Decarbonize the US But Only to "Compete" Against China & Russia
Thus, the Trump admin shall soon present an imperative to "pollute less" (not "decarbonize") than China and Russia, as part of a broader "strategic trade agenda".
Question: Hydrogen Economy Revival?
The Foreign Pollution Fee Act applies to carbon intensity: it begs the question: will hydrogen produced with nuclear power help meaningfully lower the US' carbon intensity, thus increasing the fee payable by China and Russia?
For example, converting trucks from diesel to hydrogen would significantly decarbonize the US supply chain and allow the US to impose an even higher "Pollution Fee" on competing imports.