* Energy Secretary Chu says focus on tariffs premature
* Chu supports more incentives for nuclear energy
* U.S. business group has reservations about tariffs (Adds details)
By Timothy Gardner
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The United States should focus on cutting its own greenhouse gases and developing clean energy technologies before slapping tariffs on energy-intensive goods from developing countries like China and India, Energy Secretary Steven Chu said on Tuesday.
President Barack Obama has made climate legislation one of his top priorities and supports regulating gases such as carbon dioxide blamed for warming the planet with a cap and trade market on emissions.
But Chu, a self-professed "energy efficiency nut," said for the United States to cut its carbon footprint, renewable energy investors need stable prices. And he allowed that he was concerned about the economy as a whole as oil topped a one-year high Tuesday.
"Even $80 (a barrel) is making me nervous," he told the Reuters Washington Summit.
U.S. lawmakers, now wrestling with climate change legislation in Congress, would support cap and trade market if it includes border fees on carbon intensive goods imported from developing nations if those nations do not act to reduce their own carbon emissions.
But the carbon tariffs could be a headache for the U.S. government to administer and it's uncertain that they would be allowed under global trade rules.
"You don't have to talk about tariffs yet," Chu told the Reuters Washington Summit. "Let's figure out what the U.S. can and must do" to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Carbon tariffs have been backed by several U.S. senators, especially from manufacturing states hit by high unemployment.
A plan for how the fees would work was included in the climate bill narrowly passed by the House of Representatives in June that promised to reduce U.S. emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.
Under that bill, tariffs on imports of goods like steel, glass, cement and chemicals from China, India and other countries would be triggered in the middle of the next decade if the developing countries did not act on climate.
Several senators have supported such border fees as a guarantee their homes states would not lose jobs and business to cheap imported goods.
To start off immediately considering tariffs "does no one good," Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist said at the summit being held at the Reuters office in Washington on Oct 19-21.
NUCLEAR POWER
Instead the United States, which has less than 5 percent of the global population but is the world's top consumer of energy, should lead in the development of clean energy technologies, like solar power, nuclear and energy efficiency, Chu said.
That would boost the economy, said Chu, who has cut his home's energy bills in half through measures like running fans during the summer and putting insulation on hot water pipes.
Chu called for more incentives for nuclear power in the climate bill, which would help the United States produce more low-carbon power. That could win votes from senators such as Republicans Lindsey Graham and John McCain. The Senate needs 60 votes to pass the climate bill, but it is uncertain if there are enough.
TRANSPARENCY
The United States should also work to control prices of oil and rein in carbon permit prices in any future cap and trade market to spur investments in renewables like solar, Chu said.
The Department of Energy is working to teach big developing countries to get a clear picture of petroleum supplies and demand that could help cut down on speculation and keep a lid on prices, he said. [N2043841]
Volatile oil prices have discouraged long-term investments in renewables for decades.
In addition, Chu supports price limits on permits to emit greenhouse gases in any U.S. cap and trade market. "Once you have a price collar on this, that actually discourages a lot of manipulation," he said.
Even though some lawmakers want a carbon tariff, a major business group has reservations. Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, speaking at a separate session of the Reuters summit, voiced concerns about climate legislation that could trigger taxes on imported goods.
"The United States is still the world's largest exporter of goods and services. So the country with the most to lose in a trade retaliation game is us," Josten warned. (Additional reporting by Jasmin Melvin, Ayesha Rascoe, Doug Palmer and Richard Cowan; editing by Anthony Boadle and Russell Blinch)