美国国家公共电台 NPR U.S. Manufacturers Brace For Trump's Next Trade Targets

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST: 

Now, Donald Trump¹ has said his priority as president is going to be protecting jobs, and much of his focus is expected to be U.S. trade policy. For one thing, Trump has repeatedly talked about renegotiating NAFTA, this is the free trade agreement among the U.S., Canada and Mexico. U.S. companies are the biggest foreign investors² in Mexico, and the U.S.-Mexican trade is worth about half a trillion dollars each year. But lately, some of those companies are coming under fire from Trump, often in tweets. NPR's Yuki Noguchi looks at which U.S. companies might find themselves in the crosshairs.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE³: When Donald Trump takes to Twitter, some companies shudder⁴. This week, Ford⁵ said it would scrap⁶ a $1.6 billion plant in Mexico in favor of expanding an existing one in Michigan. That happened on the same day Trump tweeted criticism of General Motors for manufacturing its Chevy Cruze vehicles in Mexico. GM says only a small number of the cars produced in Mexico are sold in the U.S.

BARRY BOSWORTH: Since most of these are companies that produce consumer-type goods, they can't afford bad publicity⁷.

NOGUCHI: Barry Bosworth is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He notes, so far, Trump's targets are companies that are expanding or planning to build operations in Mexico. So far, he has not singled out U.S. companies that have built plants long ago.

BOSWORTH: He focuses in on these individual cases, but there doesn't seem to be a rule.

NOGUCHI: In November, under pressure from Trump, heating and cooling firm Carrier said it would keep hundreds of jobs in Indiana instead of moving them to a plant in Mexico. Who might be next? Bosworth says the Trump Twitter spotlight⁸ is shining the most on big companies with well-known household brands. Automakers are especially at risk because of the high volume of cross-border trade that happens in that industry, and because it's so vulnerable to consumer opinion. He says going after a maker⁹ of obscure chemicals or a small firm that makes car components¹⁰ doesn't make for great headlines, nor does it move public sentiment. It's about the finished products.

BOSWORTH: If they're not assembled, they can't be identified in the terms of like a specific model of a General Motors car. It doesn't have the same public appeal.

NOGUCHI: Trump has issued tough trade talk on China as well, but Bosworth notes Trump has not, for example, taken Apple to task for its huge iPhone assembly operations in China. China's economy is almost as big as the U.S.'s, and it has the power to inflict¹¹ lots of pain on U.S. companies like Boeing, so interfering¹² there could backfire for American workers. Bosworth says picking on Mexico is like fighting the weak kid on the playground. It's less likely to elicit¹³ a retaliatory¹⁴ response.

BOSWORTH: It's a much weaker economy, much fewer options available to them.

NOGUCHI: Derek Scissors, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, says retailers¹⁵, banks and other service providers aren't likely to be targeted. And, he says, he hopes the singling out of individual companies will stop once Trump takes office.

DEREK SCISSORS: When you're president, you shouldn't be bothering one company. You should be changing policies such as corporate¹⁶ taxes to change the whole landscape. Getting down into the details can't be done by Twitter.

NOGUCHI: Scissors says tweeting about trade does accomplish a few things. First, it appeals to Trump's base.

SCISSORS: Probably the reason that he won the election is the effort re-shore manufacturing, not to accept it as inevitable¹⁷ that manufacturing will head overseas.

NOGUCHI: And the tweets also telegraph a message, not just to the companies he's already mentioned, but to firms in other industries, ones that might be thinking about expanding elsewhere besides Mexico.

SCISSORS: It's not going to stop at very high-profile manufacturers that consumers know about. It will continue, he's just sending the signal now to everyone, this is your chance to make an adjustment.

NOGUCHI: Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

(SOUNDBITE OF THE BETA BAND SONG, "B+A")

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 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

3 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。

4 shudder   

v.战粟，震动，剧烈地摇晃；n.战粟，抖动

参考例句：

• The sight of the coffin sent a shudder through him.看到那副棺材，他浑身一阵战栗。
• We all shudder at the thought of the dreadful dirty place.我们一想到那可怕的肮脏地方就浑身战惊。

5 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

6 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

7 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

8 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

9 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

10 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。

11 inflict   

vt.(on)把…强加给，使遭受，使承担

参考例句：

• Don't inflict your ideas on me.不要把你的想法强加于我。
• Don't inflict damage on any person.不要伤害任何人。

12 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

13 elicit   

v.引出,抽出,引起

参考例句：

• It was designed to elicit the best thinking within the government. 机构的设置是为了在政府内部集思广益。
• Don't try to elicit business secrets from me. I won't tell you anything. 你休想从我这里套问出我们的商业机密, 我什么都不会告诉你的。

14 retaliatory   

adj.报复的

参考例句：

• The process can take years before the WTO approves retaliatory action. 在WTO通过此行动之前，这个程序恐怕要等上一阵子了。 来自互联网
• Retaliatory tariffs on China are tantamount to taxing ourselves as a punishment. 将惩罚性关税强加于中国相当于对我们自己实施课税惩罚。 来自互联网

15 retailers   

零售商，零售店( retailer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• High street retailers reported a marked increase in sales before Christmas. 商业街的零售商报告说圣诞节前销售量显著提高。
• Retailers have a statutory duty to provide goods suitable for their purpose. 零售商有为他们提供符合要求的货品的法定义务。

16 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

17 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。