U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. is falling behind China in the race to seize opportunities created by climate change, in a speech that cast the challenge of a warming planet as a chance to create more jobs and export American values.

In an address in Maryland on Monday, Blinken said climate change will increasingly be at the center of U.S. foreign policy but vowed that the Biden administration won’t let other countries get away with bad practices such as human rights abuses because they’re making progress on curbing climate change.

The U.S. won’t treat "other countries’ progress on climate as a chip they can use to excuse bad behavior in other areas that are important to our national security,” Blinken said. "The Biden-Harris administration is united on this. Climate is not a trading card.”