WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The United States should focus on reducing its greenhouse gases before outlining how it would place carbon tariffs on energy-intensive goods from developing countries like China and India, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Tuesday.
"We don't need to go there at this moment," Chu told the Reuters Washington Summit.
Carbon tariffs were featured in the climate bill the House of Representatives narrowly passed in June.
Under the bill, tariffs on imports of energy-intensive goods like steel, glass, cement, and chemicals from China, India and other countries would be triggered late in the next decade if the developing countries did not live up to promises of taking action on climate change.
As the climate legislation moves to the Senate, several lawmakers from manufacturing states have supported such border fees as a way to make sure they would not lose jobs and business in their districts to cheap imported goods.
Chu said to start off immediately considering tariffs "does no one good."
The United States should lead in the development of clean energy technologies, which will boost the economy, he said at the summit, held at the Reuters office in Washington. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Jasmin Melvin; Editing by Andrew Hay) (For summit blog: http://blogs.reuters.com/summits/)