The “America First” trade agenda has consistently sought to restore fairness to America’s economic relationships, particularly with China, a nation notorious for exploiting uneven playing fields.

Last month, President Trump was right to call out China for creating “filthy pollution havens” that encourage cheap and dirty production to undercut the American worker. China’s lack of environmental enforcement acts as a hidden subsidy for their manufacturers — one of the many devastated non-market barriers that the President has rightly cited as crushing working class Americans.{/div} A pollution tariff — a fee on imports from countries with weak environmental standards — would offer the president a potent tool to counter China and hold them accountable. By targeting China’s environmental abuse, this policy thwarts Beijing’s ability to cheat, blocks their tariff evasion tactics, protects U.S. national security, and positions the U.S. as a global trade leader, rallying allies and isolating China.

China’s history of exploiting trade loopholes demands a policy that’s resistant to manipulation. The U.S. possesses a wealth of reliable, high-resolution data on China’s environmental performance, encompassing energy consumption, urban air quality, water contamination, and other critical pollution metrics. Advanced satellite imagery, third party environmental reports, and on-the-ground monitoring provide an unfiltered, real-time view of whether China is genuinely aligning with its promises or merely paying lip service while cutting corners.

This transparency makes cheating nearly impossible.

Unlike traditional trade agreements, which often rely on ambiguous enforcement mechanisms, a pollution tariff is anchored to verifiable, data-driven outcomes. If China claims to enforce laws on air pollution and industrial waste and require its industry to play by the same rules as U.S. manufacturers, we can rigorously cross-check those assertions against concrete evidence, ensuring tariff relief is granted only for authentic, measurable actions.

The ability to monitor China’s environmental practices has significant national security implications as well. China’s lax environmental standards often go hand-inhand with its opaque industrial practices, which can mask activities that threaten U.S. interests, such as the production of dual-use technologies. By leveraging cutting-edge surveillance tools, such as satellite data and international monitoring networks, a pollution tariff not only holds China accountable for environmental negligence but also enhances our visibility into their industrial ecosystem.

This transparency would reduce the risk of strategic surprises and ensure that our trade policies align with broader geopolitical objectives. The tariffs would fit seamlessly with President Trump’s demand for accountability in trade while safeguarding America’s economic and security interests against a rival known for exploiting every available advantage.

The pollution tariff’s strength lies not only in its enforceability but also in its ability to neutralize China’s go-to evasion tactics. China has long dodged U.S. tariffs by rerouting manufacturing through third countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, or Mexico. A pollution tariff shuts this door. Most nations China uses to circumvent tariffs lag far behind U.S. environmental standards, with weak regulations and minimal enforcement. By applying the tariff to goods from any country failing to meet America’s environmental benchmarks, we render these workarounds ineffective. This ensures China can’t exploit weaker environmental regimes to undercut American businesses, reinforcing Trump’s commitment to closing trade loopholes.

The broader implications of a pollution tariff extend far beyond U.S.-China trade, presenting a golden opportunity to cement American leadership on the global stage. Allies like Canada, Japan, and the European Union, which already champion rigorous environmental standards, will see it as a model for actions of their own. By taking the lead, the U.S. could compel these allies to adopt similar tariffs, creating a coordinated international effort to hold polluters like China accountable.

Such a move would amplify the economic and diplomatic costs for China’s persistent environmental negligence, isolating it within the global trade system and exposing its reliance on cheap and dirty manufacturing.

This ripple effect would reshape global trade dynamics in America’s favor. Global demand for clean, American-made products would increase, taking back market share from China. The tariff would also set a new global benchmark for trade, redefining fairness to reward America’s strengths as a leader in cleaner manufacturing and innovation. This strategic alignment enhances U.S. leverage in trade negotiations, allowing the U.S. to dictate terms that prioritize its economic and strategic priorities.

A pollution tariff is a natural extension of President Trump’s trade agenda, perfectly aligned with his mission to protect American economic and national security. It would also force China to clean up its mess on the planet. Adopting a pollution tariff sends an unequivocal message: America will no longer tolerate China’s pollution haven free ride.

(Robert C. O’Brien was U.S. National Security Advisor from 2019-2021. O’Brien is Chairman of American Global Strategies LLC.)

This article was originally published