时代周刊:中美之间的一场意志较量(1)（在线收听）

A battle of wills betweent he U.S. and China

中美之间的一场意志较量

One year ago, President Trump welcomed China’s Xi Jinping to his Mar-a-Lago estate.

一年前，特朗普总统在他的马阿拉戈庄园对中国主席习近平致以了热烈的欢迎。

Despite predictions that diferent temperaments would make for an uneasy encounter,

尽管当时有预言说性格差异会让两人的相遇并不那么愉快，

the meeting helped the nations work closely on North Korea and avoid a trade conflict.

但那次会议还是促进了两国在朝鲜问题上的密切合作，避免了一场贸易冲突的爆发。

Still, this is an election year in the U.S.,

尽管如此，今年到底是美国的选举年，

and Trump wants supporters to see that he’s keeping his promises to get tough on China and trade deficits.

所以，特朗普想让自己的支持者们看到他兑现了自己的承诺，对中国，对贸易逆差如约采取了强硬态度。

After he announced tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in March,

特朗普今年3月宣布对进口钢铁和进口铝征收关税后，

he got a lot of pushback—

遭到了许多人的反对——

from U.S. businesses that need cheap steel, allies who export steel as well as Republican governors and lawmakers.

包括需要廉价钢铁的美国企业、出口钢铁的盟友以及多位共和党州长、议员。

The Administration then announced exemptions from tariffs for Europe and countries including Canada, Mexico, Brazil and South Korea.

随后，特朗普政府又宣布，对欧洲以及加拿大、墨西哥、巴西和韩国等国免征关税。

But not for China, which has alienated many U.S. businesses by restricting market access and stealing their intellectual property.

但中国除外，因为中国靠限制市场准入和窃取国内企业的知识产权孤立了很多美国企业。

This fight is about more than trade, though.

尽管如此，这场较量却并不只是一场贸易之争。

Not long before Trump announced those tariffs,

因为就在特朗普宣布对中国征收关税之前不久，

he signed into law the Taiwan Travel Act,

他还签署了《台湾旅游法》，

which allows officials at all levels of the U.S. government to travel to Taiwan to meet their Taiwanese counterparts,

允许美国政府各级官员前往台湾跟台湾方面的官员会面，

and for high-level Taiwanese officials to enter the U.S.

台湾高级官员也可前来美国。

Although this move reversed a nearly 40-year-old policy,

尽管这一举措扭转了近40年来的政策，

the story got little play in most American media.

大多数美国媒体却都没怎么报道这件事。

Not so in China, where some state officials saw this open rejection of the “One China policy”

但在中国的情形就不一样了，因为中国的一些国家官员将这一公开反对“一个中国政策”的举措

as evidence that U.S. trade action is designed not to revive American manufacturing but to block China’s expanding influence.

视为了美国近来的贸易行动并不是为了振兴美国制造业，而是为了阻止中国不断扩大的影响力的证据。

AMID ALL THIS was a divergence on North Korea.

而贯穿在所有这些问题之中的是两国在朝鲜问题上存在的分歧。

Beijing was not happy that Kim JongUn went so directly to Trump with an offer to meet—

北京方面对金正恩如此爽快地接受了特朗普的会面邀请感到不满——

and that there has been no statement that a Chinese representative will be present.

同时也对没有声明邀请中国代表出席一事感到不满。

Meanwhile, Trump declared on March 22 that he intends to impose $50 billion in tariffs, this time targeted directly at China.

再加上，特朗普3月22日宣布，他打算将征税商品的规模增加到500亿美元，这次直接将矛头对准了中国。

Trump says there will be more unless Beijing takes actions that knock $100 billion of the bilateral trade deficit.

川普还说，除非北京方面采取行动，消除1000亿美元的双边贸易逆差，否则他就继续提高对中国的征税商品规模。