美国国家公共电台 NPR What's In Your Shopping Cart? A Battleground For Global Trade

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

When you're shopping, how often do you think about where your purchases come from? I mean, are you looking at the labels to see where those goods are made? I, for one, don't. Maybe I should. As President Trump¹ has been shaking up America's international trade relationships, NPR's Alina Selyukh did want to see just how much of the world is represented in our shopping baskets, and she sent this report from Hinesville in southeastern Georgia.

ANDREA CONYERS: Sweetheart, why don't you look at some backpacks?

ALINA SELYUKH, BYLINE²: Andrea Conyers is steering³ her cart and her daughter through the back-to-school area of Walmart

CONYERS: Sharp turn, sharp turn, sharp turn.

SELYUKH: Her daughter, Aviana, is very organized. She's 7 years old. She's got her second-grade supply list in hand, asks her mom for a pencil to cross things off.

AVIANA CONYERS: OK, what's next? So two pink erasers. So let's go for the dry-erase markers.

CONYERS: All right. You need a fine tip.

AVIANA: Now, let's go find hand sanitizer.

SELYUKH: Of course, the most exciting purchase is a new backpack.

What kind of backpack do you want?

AVIANA: Well, whatever my mom chooses.

SELYUKH: Sure, we believe you, Aviana. She ends up choosing a colorful pack with a strand⁴ of doll hair. I'm following the Conyers' shopping trip today for a bit of a thought experiment. President Trump has put the U.S. on a path to a trade war with much of the world, especially with America's biggest trading partners - Canada, Mexico and China. So far, the new tariffs⁶ on imports and exports have mostly been felt by U.S. manufacturers and farmers. But it all can feel distant when you're just a consumer shopping. I wanted to see how global trade might actually show up in the baskets of regular American shoppers. Many of them are now stocking up on back-to-school supplies. Conyers and I sort through her basket, searching the labels of pencils made in the Philippines, ear buds made in China, a few notebooks.

CONYERS: Made in India.

SELYUKH: Traveling around the world here.

CONYERS: Yes - Brazil, India, China.

SELYUKH: The Philippines.

CONYERS: Made in the U.S.

SELYUKH: Her basket ends up being split about half and half between foreign-made products and things made or at least assembled in America.

CONYERS: Actually, I'm very pleasantly surprised.

SELYUKH: She says she usually pays attention to where her purchases come from when the quality really matters for her, like food or clothes.

CONYERS: Whatever you buy local, it goes back into your local economy.

SELYUKH: On a larger scale, that's exactly the hope behind the Trump administration's new trade policies. President Trump argues instead of buying things from other countries, make them here, buy them here, create jobs in America. The thing is that's not how products have been made for years. You may have heard the term supply chain. Think of this...

AVIANA: A pack of pencils.

SELYUKH: A pencil might get wood from one place, graphite from another, the rubber eraser comes from a third place, and it might all get assembled in yet another country and then shipped to be sold all over the world. The vast majority of global trade works this way. Trump's trade policies stand to shake that up. Economists⁷ say eventually restricting America's role in this global web could lead to higher prices at the store.

NATALIE MONDESIR: I am preparing myself financially.

SELYUKH: Natalie Mondesir is a fourth-grade teacher here in Liberty County.

MONDESIR: I am starting to save a little bit and buy stuff as much as possible while I can.

SELYUKH: Mondesir also has two teenage children.

MONDESIR: I'm usually looking for the best deals because not only am I buying stuff for my own personal children, I usually buy stuff for my class also.

SELYUKH: Today, her shopping list is for her son's eighth-grade science class. And as we set off to see where her purchases come from, things get a bit emotional when Mondesir picks up a box of Crayola colored pencils.

MONDESIR: I always go Crayola only because this has been childhood. I've been to the Crayola factory.

SELYUKH: We look for the label.

MONDESIR: As distributed - what does it mean by distributed? Made in Brazil.

SELYUKH: Made in Brazil.

MONDESIR: Dang, you just broke my heart.

SELYUKH: I'm sorry.

MONDESIR: I went to the Crayola factory when I was little.

SELYUKH: Turns out, Crayola crayons are made in the U.S. but Crayola colored pencils are Brazilian. As I follow Mondesir, we make a couple other observations. Foreign-made pencils are slightly cheaper than made in the USA and sometimes American made isn't even an option.

MONDESIR: OK, now I got to figure out where the locks are.

SELYUKH: Mondesir is looking for a padlock, the kind you put on a school locker⁸.

MONDESIR: Of course, it's made in China. OK.

SELYUKH: I'm guessing that one's also made in China.

MONDESIR: Oh, no, no, Taiwan.

SELYUKH: Packaged in the USA, though.

MONDESIR: Plot twist.

SELYUKH: Very few of the supermarket items have so far been directly affected⁹ by the escalating¹⁰ trade dispute. But the next wave of tariffs is expected to hit more consumer-oriented products. It's unclear how much the companies will be able to eat the costs instead of hiking up the prices for shoppers. And Mondesir is particularly worried about one big-ticket item she wants to buy this year - a new car. The auto¹¹ industry is bracing¹² to be swept up in a costly¹³ tariff⁵ war. So Mondesir says she is preparing to pay more than she had expected. Alina Selyukh, NPR News, Liberty County, Ga.

1 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。

2 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。

3 steering   

n.操舵装置

参考例句：

• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration. 他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。
• Steering according to the wind, he also framed his words more amicably. 他真会看风使舵，口吻也马上变得温和了。

4 strand   

vt.使（船）搁浅，使（某人）困于（某地）

参考例句：

• She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.她把一缕散发夹到了耳后。
• The climbers had been stranded by a storm.登山者被暴风雨困住了。

5 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

6 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。

7 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 locker   

n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人

参考例句：

• At the swimming pool I put my clothes in a locker.在游泳池我把衣服锁在小柜里。
• He moved into the locker room and began to slip out of his scrub suit.他走进更衣室把手术服脱下来。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

10 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

11 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

12 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

13 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。