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Countries opposed to the new EU carbon emissions levy on foreign flights to and from Europe will gather in the US at a meeting hosted by the American government.
Around a dozen nations are trying to fight back against the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) charge, which has been in place since early 2012.
It applies to all foreign flights taking off from or landing in Europe.
The longer the flight, the more it costs the airline, although flights that just pass through European airspace and do not land are exempt.
Airlines have already begun accruing the charge but will not be billed until 2013.
It is estimated it will cost the industry around £14bn over the next eight years. The EU says the cost to passengers will range from about £3 - £18 extra per ticket, depending on the flight.
India, China, Russia and the US are among the countries most strongly opposed to the ETS.
They say it amounts to an unfair tax imposed without consultation or agreement, and they would rather hammer out a deal presided over by the International Civil Aviation Organisation - the UN body tasked with overseeing standards for the industry.
Tony Tyler, director general of the International Air Transport Association, said: The onus is now on Europe to seize the moment, take credible action to defuse the situation, and get on with finding the global solution
He warned that the ETS as it stands could start "a trade war that nobody can afford".
But EU climate change spokesman Isaac Valdero Ladron indicated that Europe is unlikely to back down.
"I think the British man knows that he has to comply with US legislation, its is the same here in Europe. When others want to do business here and operate here, they have to comply with the environmental legislation here.
"It makes sense because there is a problem with growing emissions from a sector with no control what-so-ever over its emissions."
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change the aviation industry is responsible for just over 3% of “overall climate change impact”, including C02 emissions and other greenhouse gases.
Airlines for America, a trade body that represents the major US airlines, agrees the industry must work to be more environmentally friendly but rejects the principle of the EU unilaterally imposing a tax.
Spokesman Sean Kennedy told Sky News: "The way we are going to reduce our emissions is to buy more fuel efficient aircraft, to do more research and development in new technologies, and to find a way to lower fuel costs.
"But if we’re spending $3bn over the next eight years and sending it to the EU, that’s $3bn we don’t have for those kind of investments and we simply aren’t going to be able to make the reductions that we need."
Airlines for America has written a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as the US transport secretary, urging them to use this latest gathering to take concrete action to stop the ETS.
The meeting is a follow-up to February’s "coalition of the unwilling", where around 20 countries opposed to the levy met up in Moscow to discuss strategies to end it.
Options discussed there included barring national airlines from participating in the carbon scheme, abandoning talks with European carriers on new routes and possibly even targeting EU airlines with retaliatory levies.
