美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Prepares To Get Tougher On China Over Trade

 

SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST:

China is the world's export giant. Each year, it sells more than $2 trillion worth of goods around the world. Other countries often say one way China has reached the top is through unfair trade practices, like dumping products below cost to kill off competitors. President Trump¹ has stopped short of direct action against China on trade, but that may soon change. NPR's Jim Zarroli has more.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE²: In his rhetoric³ at least, Trump has never been afraid to take on China. Here he was in a 2015 TV interview complaining that China's markets remain closed to U.S. companies.

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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: China dumps all their stuff with us. And I'm not complaining about that. But I have friends that are manufacturers. They cannot get their product into China. So if they're going to do it to us, we have to do it to them.

ZARROLI: For all his tough talk, Trump has so far not really pressed his case with China. That's partly because he needs Beijing's help with North Korea but also because companies such as Boeing that make a lot of money in China are terrified of a trade war. Still, a clash seems almost inevitable⁴. Edward Alden is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

EDWARD ALDEN: If you're concerned about the large U.S. trade deficit⁵, which the president is and has said he is repeatedly, most of that's a China problem.

ZARROLI: There are signs Trump is starting to match his rhetoric with action. The administration is increasingly dominated by trade hard-liners like Peter Navarro, author of such books as "The Coming China Wars," "Death By China" and "Crouching⁶ Tiger: What China's Militarism Means For The World."

PETER NAVARRO: It's staggering - staggering what China does in terms of cheating the international system. And it's refreshing⁷ that we finally have a president that is standing⁸ up for the American people and standing up to China on this.

ZARROLI: In an interview with NPR, Navarro says it's not just the United States that has issues with China. Countries throughout Asia and Europe have similar complaints about intellectual property theft and illegal subsidies⁹.

NAVARRO: I think there's a widespread and growing consensus¹⁰ around the world that China is not playing by the rules and that together we, as allies and trading partners, need to take many, many different kinds of measures to ensure a level playing field.

ZARROLI: But so far, the White House has mostly acted on its own. This week, the administration blocked Singapore-based Broadcom's efforts to acquire U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm. Officials said the sale would leave the American chip industry vulnerable to Chinese competition. It's launched an investigation¹¹ into Chinese trade and is about to issue a report. Edward Alden says the report could lead to trade sanctions under something called Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

ALDEN: The Trump administration has made it very clear that it believes that it has the authority under Section 301 to threaten and-or impose tariffs¹² on China directly over these practices.

ZARROLI: China has made clear it won't be pushed around, but it has gradually accommodated some of the complaints about its behavior. Dan Ikenson of the Cato Institute notes that trade disputes are supposed to be handled by the World Trade Organization, and he worries about the U.S. acting¹³ on its own.

DANIEL IKENSON: My main concern is that we actually go forward with these unilateral duties, and the rest of the world sees the United States as disavowing the WTO. China retaliates¹⁴. And so the costs start to spread, you know, across the U.S. economy.

ZARROLI: The risk, he says, is that Trump's actions could upend the global trade rules that have been carefully developed over the years. That would have repercussions¹⁵ around the world. Jim Zarroli, NPR News, New York.

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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 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 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。

5 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

6 crouching   

v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• a hulking figure crouching in the darkness 黑暗中蹲伏着的一个庞大身影
• A young man was crouching by the table, busily searching for something. 一个年轻人正蹲在桌边翻看什么。 来自汉英文学 - 散文英译

7 refreshing   

adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的

参考例句：

• I find it'so refreshing to work with young people in this department.我发现和这一部门的青年一起工作令人精神振奋。
• The water was cold and wonderfully refreshing.水很涼，特别解乏提神。

8 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

9 subsidies   

n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• European agriculture ministers failed to break the deadlock over farm subsidies. 欧洲各国农业部长在农业补贴问题上未能打破僵局。
• Agricultural subsidies absorb about half the EU's income. 农业补贴占去了欧盟收入的大约一半。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

11 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

12 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。

13 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

14 retaliates   

v.报复，反击( retaliate的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Lincoln suggests Si Tan pauses, the letter that writes acrimonious of a content retaliates that fellow. 林肯建议斯坦顿，写一封内容尖刻的信回敬那家伙。 来自互联网
• If it does not, and the US imposes tariffs and China retaliates, what then? 如果它不让步，而美国开征关税，中国加以报复，接下来会怎样？ 来自互联网

15 repercussions   

n.后果，反响( repercussion的名词复数 )；余波

参考例句：

• The collapse of the company will have repercussions for the whole industry. 这家公司的垮台将会给整个行业造成间接的负面影响。
• Human acts have repercussions far beyond the frontiers of the human world. 人类行为所产生的影响远远超出人类世界的范围。 来自《简明英汉词典》