美国国家公共电台 NPR From Mills To Manufacturers, Steel Tariffs Produce Winners And Losers

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

It's time for quarterly earnings¹ reports at many companies. And that gives us a chance to compare President Trump²'s rhetoric³ on trade with the reality that American manufacturers are facing. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE⁴: At a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month, President Trump boasted about the comeback of one American industry.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're putting our steel workers back to work at clips that nobody would believe.

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TRUMP: U.S. Steel is opening up seven plants.

ZARROLI: In fact, U.S. Steel isn't opening up seven plants. But it has restarted a couple of blast furnaces in Illinois, and it has announced some other capital projects. CEO David Burritt appeared on Fox Business Network recently.

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DAVID BURRITT: So we're absolutely excited for our team and for our customers so that we can provide mined, melted and made-in-the-USA steel.

ZARROLI: Steel companies are among the biggest beneficiaries of President Trump's decision to impose tariffs⁵ on imported metals. The tariffs make imports more expensive, and that's helped drive up steel prices. Mary Lovely is a professor of economics at Syracuse University.

MARY LOVELY: The tariffs are working exactly the way they should. They produce winners and losers.

ZARROLI: Among the losers, she says, are companies that have to buy a lot of metals to be used in manufacturing. Suddenly they have to pay more.

LOVELY: The companies that use steel like aluminum⁶ can manufacturers, they're going to be hurt by this.

ZARROLI: Over the past few weeks, companies such as Caterpillar⁷, Whirlpool and General Motors have said they're having to contend with rising metal prices. The higher costs come at a time when manufacturers are otherwise faring well. William Staber is president of Staber Industries, a small Ohio company that makes washing machines and other products.

WILLIAM STABER: We are so busy that it's out-of-control busy. The orders just keep coming in here, and it's never-ending.

ZARROLI: Still, Staber says the rising price of aluminum and steel is causing him headaches.

STABER: You go get a quote today, it's good through the end of business today period.

ZARROLI: Staber says much of what his company needs to buy are specialty⁸ metals that aren't even made in the United States. He has no choice but to import them, so tariffs make no sense.

STABER: It's all about protecting jobs and saving jobs. OK, I get that. But we're not even making it here. So whose job are you saving when you - we're not doing it here?

ZARROLI: That's a view that Scott Paul is familiar with. The trade group that Paul heads, the Alliance for American Manufacturing, supports the steel and aluminum tariffs. But Paul concedes that many of the manufacturers he represents don't. He tells them the prices should eventually come back down. Paul says the cost of the tariffs is a small part of the $19 trillion U.S. economy.

SCOTT PAUL: Obviously some steel consumers will face some price adjustments. But overall, a lot of the signs point to a healthy economy.

ZARROLI: Paul says the U.S. has longstanding problems with China and other trading partners, and the tariffs are part of a strategy to address them. There may be some pain now, he says, but in the end the benefits will be worth it. Jim Zarroli, NPR News.

1 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

6 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

7 caterpillar   

n.毛虫，蝴蝶的幼虫

参考例句：

• A butterfly is produced by metamorphosis from a caterpillar.蝴蝶是由毛虫脱胎变成的。
• A caterpillar must pass through the cocoon stage to become a butterfly.毛毛虫必须经过茧的阶段才能变成蝴蝶。

8 specialty   

n.(speciality)特性，特质；专业，专长

参考例句：

• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town.贝雕是该城的特产。
• His specialty is English literature.他的专业是英国文学。