美国国家公共电台 NPR Inside The White House's Bitter Fight Over China

Inside The White House's Bitter Fight Over China

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It is not exactly set to be a warm welcome. Chinese trade negotiators come to Washington for trade talks tomorrow - this even as President Trump¹ says he's ready to raise tariffs³ on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury⁴ Secretary Steve Mnuchin confirmed that those tariffs will take effect this Friday if the Chinese backtrack from trade commitments.

Although the White House appears to be a united front in this moment, NPR and the PBS show "Frontline" found that top administration officials spent more than a year deeply divided on this issue. Top advisers⁶ fought bitterly over whether tariffs would help the U.S. economy or devastate⁷ it. Here's NPR's Laura Sullivan.

LAURA SULLIVAN, BYLINE⁸: Steve Bannon, President Trump's former chief strategist, first met the president in 2010.

STEVE BANNON: Well, I get invited up to a meeting by a guy named Dave Bossie. He says Donald Trump wants to meet and talk about running for president. And I said, of what country?

SULLIVAN: But a few days later, Bannon went and found he and Trump had something important in common - a shared belief that China posed a grave danger to the United States.

BANNON: Now, he didn't know a lot of details. He knew almost no policy. But what I found most extraordinary was when we got to the section on China - which I kind of threw out there - of a two-hour meeting, almost 30 minutes or more was all about China.

SULLIVAN: Trump has railed against China and the U.S. trade deficit⁹ for more than two decades. In television interviews, he said tariffs would revive manufacturing jobs. By the time he hit the campaign trail, Trump had found his audience.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We can't continue to allow China to rape¹⁰ our country, and that's what they're doing.

SULLIVAN: Bannon watched from the back.

BANNON: When he started talking about trade and he started talking about China, these working-class people would lean forward. No other Republican talked like this.

SULLIVAN: When Trump was elected, he assembled a team of advisers to focus on China, pulling in people like Gary Cohn from Goldman Sachs, a hawkish¹¹ economist¹² named Peter Navarro; his U.S. trade representative, Robert Lighthizer; an Army general, H.R. McMaster, who became his national security adviser⁵. But this group of advisers quickly splintered, deadlocked¹³ over whether tariffs would bring China to heel or send the world's two largest economies into turmoil¹⁴. They broke into two camps, the globalists versus¹⁵ the nationalists. Gary Cohn was Trump's top economic adviser.

GARY COHN: We agreed on what the fundamental issue was. We agreed that the forced technology transfer, the lack of market access, the copyright infringements¹⁶ was all a huge problem. What I think we had different methodologies on is how we were going to solve that problem.

SULLIVAN: Cohn was a globalist. He and others, like H.R. McMaster, believed heavy tariffs would hurt the country, that the Chinese products Americans buy will become more expensive. Business growth would slow. They wanted to partner with other countries to confront China with powerful alliances. Nationalists like Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro, the economist, wanted to use tariffs to force China to the table to end longstanding issues of theft and unfair practices. They believed higher prices on Chinese goods would protect U.S. jobs and bring back manufacturing. Bannon says there was little middle ground.

BANNON: If you take all the other nastiness on the things like the Paris accord and TPP, roll it up and put it to the factor of 10, they don't compare to these weekly nasty trade meetings. I mean, there was a blowup in the Oval Office. Peter pulls out one of his charts, which the president loves. Next thing you know, we have this big blowup. We have to exit and go back into the Roosevelt Room.

SULLIVAN: Gary Cohn remembers it well. He says Bannon and Navarro were not bringing actual data to the meetings.

COHN: From time to time, there were people that tried to use unfootnoted, undocumented facts.

SULLIVAN: Cohn says there were a lot of pictures and infographics, whiteboards with giant pie charts.

COHN: It's my job to get rid of the undocumented, unfootnoted facts and make sure that those don't enter the Oval Office.

SULLIVAN: Are you talking about Peter Navarro's charts?

COHN: Yes, I'm talking about Peter Navarro's charts.

SULLIVAN: Navarro declined NPR's request for an interview. H.R. McMaster said everyone in the room was concerned from the beginning about the economic threat China posed. But tension between the two men is clearly still high.

HR MCMASTER: The president's eyes were wide open and so were all the members of his Cabinet.

SULLIVAN: All of you universally felt that China was a threat and a problem.

MCMASTER: That's correct.

BANNON: That's a total and complete lie.

SULLIVAN: Bannon says he and McMaster were never on the same page.

BANNON: I fought that guy every day. I don't want to hear his nonsense now that he realizes he was on the wrong side of the history. If he said that, he is a stone cold liar¹⁷.

SULLIVAN: By the end of 2017, the discord¹⁸ was seeping¹⁹ well outside the White House. Susan Thornton was acting²⁰ assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs and has served under 10 secretaries. She said it was one of the most difficult assignments of her career, trying to present a strong unified²¹ front to the Chinese.

SUSAN THORNTON: You can't have this team that's fighting with itself. That's a big disadvantage for us, frankly²².

SULLIVAN: Do you think China was aware that there were different sides arguing different...

THORNTON: Oh, yes. They were having fights in front of the Chinese delegation²³, which is, like, the cardinal²⁴ sin of negotiating. It makes it look like your delegation doesn't know what it's doing and that the leader of the delegation doesn't have sufficient authority to negotiate.

SULLIVAN: Bannon says it doesn't matter if the Chinese knew top officials were at odds²⁵. He intended to win.

BANNON: We came loaded. The most intense fights and debates in the White House were about this issue of tariffs but tariffs as a proxy²⁶ to the great economic war with China that we're engaged in.

SULLIVAN: For Bannon, Navarro and the nationalists, it paid off. In March 2018, Trump called steel and aluminum²⁷ executives from around the country to the White House.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

TRUMP: Thank you very much, everyone. We have with us the biggest steel companies in the United States...

SULLIVAN: He announced tariffs on steel and aluminum and, six months later, imposed additional tariffs on 200 billion in Chinese goods. Cohn accepted defeat.

COHN: Did I feel like I had represented the nontariff side of the equation for many people in the White House that didn't want tariffs? Well, I did. I felt like I had given it my best effort.

SULLIVAN: But he says the White House globalists aren't the only ones who lost.

COHN: Who I think lost was the United States consumer. Someone's paying the tariff². Whoever's paying the tariff is the loser. For every dollar of tariff gets collected, it's coming out of disposable income of the United States consumer today.

SULLIVAN: Cohn left the White House less than a week after the steel meeting. And in the weeks and months that followed, H.R. McMaster left his job, Susan Thornton left her post at the State Department and Steve Bannon had already resigned. But the administration is forging ahead with the nationalist agenda. Economists²⁸ say it's too soon to know the impact of the tariffs, but they haven't lowered the trade deficit as Trump wanted. In March, the deficit with China was at a record high. Bannon says those are narrow outcomes. He and the other nationalists are thinking bigger.

BANNON: I think the goal into China is quite simply to break the back of this totalitarian mercantilist economic society. So it's definitely us versus them, and I don't think there's any doubt about that.

SULLIVAN: Cohn says that goal could turn an economic problem into something even more serious.

COHN: China is a superpower. China has 1.4 billion people. That's a fact. If we really become isolationist and China becomes isolationist, that seems to me like you're trying to set up a conflict.

SULLIVAN: Trade talks are expected to continue this week. Laura Sullivan, NPR News.

MARTIN: And "Frontline's" full investigation²⁹ with NPR "Trump's Trade War" airs tonight on your local PBS station.

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 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。

3 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。

4 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

5 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

6 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

7 devastate   

v.使荒芜，破坏，压倒

参考例句：

• A few days before,a fire had devastated large parts of Windsor Castle.几天前，温莎城堡的大部分被一场大火烧毁。
• Earthquakes can also cause tsunamis,which devastate coastal regions.地震还引发海啸，它直接破坏海岸地区。

8 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。

9 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。

10 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

11 hawkish   

adj. 鹰派的, 强硬派的

参考例句：

• My staff's advice that first day was amazingly hawkish. 在第一天，我的僚属们的意见是令人吃惊的鹰派意见。
• Antiwar groups fear Barack Obama may create hawkish Cabinet. 反战团体担心巴拉克·奥巴马可以创建强硬派内阁。

12 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

13 deadlocked   

陷入僵局的；僵持不下的

参考例句：

• The plan deadlocked over the funds. 这个计划由于经费问题而搁浅了。
• The meeting deadlocked over the wage issue. 会议因工资问题而停顿下来。

14 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

15 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

16 infringements   

n.违反( infringement的名词复数 )；侵犯，伤害

参考例句：

• It'seems to me we've got to decide on wider issues than possible patent infringements. 我认为我们不能只考虑侵犯专利可能性这一问题，要对更大的一些问题做出决策。 来自企业管理英语口语（第二版）(2)
• Wikipedia relies on its users to correct errors and spot copyright infringements. 维基百科主要依靠用户来纠正错误，并发现版权侵权行为。 来自互联网

17 liar   

n.说谎的人

参考例句：

• I know you for a thief and a liar!我算认识你了，一个又偷又骗的家伙！
• She was wrongly labelled a liar.她被错误地扣上说谎者的帽子。

18 discord   

n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐

参考例句：

• These two answers are in discord.这两个答案不一样。
• The discord of his music was hard on the ear.他演奏的不和谐音很刺耳。

19 seeping   

v.（液体）渗( seep的现在分词 )；渗透；渗出；漏出

参考例句：

• Water had been slowly seeping away from the pond. 池塘里的水一直在慢慢渗漏。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Chueh-hui could feel the cold seeping into his bones. 觉慧开始觉得寒气透过衣服浸到身上来了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

20 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。

21 unified   

(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的

参考例句：

• The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
• The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

22 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

23 delegation   

n.代表团；派遣

参考例句：

• The statement of our delegation was singularly appropriate to the occasion.我们代表团的声明非常适合时宜。
• We shall inform you of the date of the delegation's arrival.我们将把代表团到达的日期通知你。

24 cardinal   

n.(天主教的)红衣主教；adj.首要的，基本的

参考例句：

• This is a matter of cardinal significance.这是非常重要的事。
• The Cardinal coloured with vexation. 红衣主教感到恼火，脸涨得通红。

25 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

26 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

27 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。

28 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》

29 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。