A December 11 exclusive in Bloomberg Government, about a discussion draft of a bill that would require payment of a pollution fee on steel and other products imported into the United States from China and other countries, mentions the Steel Manufacturers Association’s support for monetizing America’s significant advantage in carbon emissions.

The discussion draft of the Foreign Pollution Fee Act was unveiled yesterday by Republican Sens. Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) and Lindsey Graham (South Carolina).

In “Republicans Pitch Foreign Polluter Fee With Eye Toward China,” reporter Kellie Lunney notes that SMA has recommended a tariff or fee on imported steel that is made with higher carbon emissions. Chinese steelmakers generate twice as much carbon, on average, as American steelmakers per ton of steel. And SMA members, who make steel by recycling iron scrap in electric furnaces, produce even cleaner steal, generating less carbon per ton of steel than even the U.S. average.

“The Steel Manufacturers Association endorsed the idea of a foreign pollution fee on steel imports entering the US ‘based on their embedded emissions levels,’ in a recent action plan prepared for President-elect Donald Trump and the 119th Congress,” Lunney writes.

Read the SMA Five-Point Action Plan here.

Read the Bloomberg Government story (subscription required) here.

See more coverage of the SMA Five-Point Plan here, here, and here.