"starting in 2024 all shipping vessels going in and out of Europe will need to buy enough permits to cover 40% of their emissions, by 2026 it’ll be 100%."

If we (the US) do the same, presumably we'd need a scheme to split the obligations from the permits, otherwise shipping companies will be subject to double (or more) taxation.

Of course any system like this will be gamed - maybe the long-haul cargo ships from China will unload outside of the EU, but close to Europe (Turkey? UK?), re-load the cargo on another ship and pay for the much smaller amount of emissions on that final journey.

It'll be interesting to see how it's gamed, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try - you will get things like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oP1Oq3JLNbc but they can be corrected for later.

One solution would be to switch the tax to a tariff on goods that can be avoided if you prove reduced carbon travel. So if your goods are from China, you get the 100% whatever it is, but if you can show that they travelled from China on whatever is considered acceptable, it drops to 20% or 0% or similar.

Good, yes tax things we need more? Where is this money going? Are we funding research for hydrogen powered freight? 1st world taxation almost always affects the bottom rung of the planet while building endless coffers of money for the wealthy.