PBS高端访谈:特朗普的商业和政治利益之间是否存在联系?

 　　JOHN YANG: Next, to a closer look at President-elect Trump¹'s business interests and potential conflicts that may arise when he takes office.

　　William Brangham has more. William?

　　WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Thanks, John.

　　Indeed, many analysts² believe we are in unprecedented³ territory here, where a man with active financial dealings in at least 20 different countries is about to become president of the United States.

　　The New York Times just did a deep dive into Donald Trump's global businesses and how it could intersect with his presidency⁴.

　　Eric Lipton is one of the reporters on that story, and he joins me now.

　　Eric Lipton, thank you very much for being here.

　　I mentioned this term unprecedented. Is that a fair characterization, in your mind, where we have a businessman who is so well connected in so many nations moving into the White House?

　　ERIC LIPTON, The New York Times: I think so.

　　I have spoken with quite a number of presidential historians who say that they see nothing like this in American history. And it's not just the assets he owns, because the list of properties that he owns 100 percent is not that huge, but it's the relationships that he has with businesses globally through branding arrangements in which he is paid a fee or a commission for those deals.

　　And so he still has a financial relationship and business partners in many countries, particular in the developing world. And the concern, I think, is more in the developing world, where you have a history of oftentimes corners being cut to powerful people with economic interests.

　　That's where the real problem is, less so in like Western Europe, for example.

　　WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Well, let's talk about — before we get into the details of some of the countries specifically, broadly speaking, what do you see as the main conflicts of interests here? What's the problem?

　　特朗普的商业和政治利益之间是否存在联系?

　　ERIC LIPTON: To me, there's two primary things.

　　One is sort of a broad thing, which is that the United States for decades has played a leading role globally to try to encourage nations to separate their political from economic power, so that there is greater transparency, that everyone has an equal shots at contracts, and that there aren't payments for permits or contracts.

　　It's been something that both Democrats⁵ and Republicans have really rallied and pressured other foreign governments. There is the Foreign Corrupt⁶ Practices Act. There's been all kinds of prosecutions⁷ of companies that have been involved in any type of a payment to get a contract.

　　And the United States has been a preacher on this. And the fact now that you have a president who is mixing the financial matters with the political matters and that his business interests are going to overlap⁸ with U.S. foreign policy really undermines that message that the United States has worked so hard across bipartisanly.

　　The second thing is that no matter how ethical⁹ the Trump family is and President Trump himself, there is going to be intense pressure on officials in these foreign places to do things for him even if he doesn't ask for it in a way to try to impress President Trump or his administration or the White House to get some type of special treatment.

　　They may not succeed in that, but there is an incentive¹⁰ for them to accelerate a permit, to grant access to a piece of land that he really wants that's going to help his company, to buy memberships at a golf club, to do various things.

　　Now, he says, well, how can you blame me if people are doing things I don't ask them for? But he and his family potentially are going to be enriched by these favors that will be granted to them, even if they don't request it.

　　And so even if they're completely moral, given that there's these relationships, it seems like it could present a problem.

　　WILLIAM BRANGHAM: You document so many different interesting examples of where these possible conflicts could arise.

　　Let's talk about one of them, specifically the Philippines. In your piece, you introduce us to man named Jose E.B. Antonio. Who is he and why is he important in this story?

　　ERIC LIPTON: So, he is essentially¹¹ the brand representative for the Trump family in the Philippines.

　　Often, when they have major projects in certain countries, they have essentially a person who helps represent their whole business enterprise there. So he is in charge of building a major new skyscraper¹² in — and outside Manila.

　　So he is — but the problem for Donald Trump and for these questions about potential conflicts is that he was recently appointed by the president of the Philippines to simultaneously¹³ serve as the Philippines' envoy¹⁴ to the United States.

　　So here you have a guy who is the partner, business partner of Donald Trump, and the government official that is helping¹⁵ represent the government of the Philippines in its relationship with the United States. And the Philippines' relationship with the United States is a very complicated one right now.

　　You have got a president who's ordered essentially the extrajudicial killing¹⁷ of drug dealers¹⁸ in that country to try to crack down on crime. And, again, you certainly want drug dealers to be arrested, taken of the streets, but you don't and go kill them before they have a trial.

　　The State Department has been incredibly critical of what's been happening in the Philippines with respect to these people simply being shot down and killed on the streets.

　　And what's going to happen when you have President Trump, where his business partner is an official in the government of the Philippines? Is Trump still going to be as willing to potentially alienate¹⁹ his business partner and complicate¹⁶ his business deals in the Philippines and challenge the government of the Philippines?

　　That's an open question. But at least in the back of his head, you wonder, will that be a factor? Will that influence foreign policy because he's a business associate there? It seems like, how's that not going to be a factor?

　　WILLIAM BRANGHAM: All right, Eric Lipton of The New York Times, really incredible piece of reporting. And there's many more examples in the story that you ran. They can find that on The New York Times Web site.

　　Thank you so much for the reporting and thanks for being here.

　　ERIC LIPTON: Thank you.

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 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

3 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

4 presidency   

n.总统(校长，总经理)的职位(任期)

参考例句：

• Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
• Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。

5 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

7 prosecutions   

起诉( prosecution的名词复数 )； 原告； 实施； 从事

参考例句：

• It is the duty of the Attorney-General to institute prosecutions. 检察总长负责提起公诉。
• Since World War II, the government has been active in its antitrust prosecutions. 第二次世界大战以来，政府积极地进行着反对托拉斯的检举活动。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

8 overlap   

v.重叠，与…交叠；n.重叠

参考例句：

• The overlap between the jacket and the trousers is not good.夹克和裤子重叠的部分不好看。
• Tiles overlap each other.屋瓦相互叠盖。

9 ethical   

adj.伦理的，道德的，合乎道德的

参考例句：

• It is necessary to get the youth to have a high ethical concept.必须使青年具有高度的道德观念。
• It was a debate which aroused fervent ethical arguments.那是一场引发强烈的伦理道德争论的辩论。

10 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

11 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

12 skyscraper   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• The skyscraper towers into the clouds.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。
• The skyscraper was wrapped in fog.摩天楼为雾所笼罩。

13 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

14 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

15 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

16 complicate   

vt.使复杂化，使混乱，使难懂

参考例句：

• There is no need to complicate matters.没有必要使问题复杂化。
• These events will greatly complicate the situation.这些事件将使局势变得极其复杂。

17 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

18 dealers   

n.商人( dealer的名词复数 )；贩毒者；毒品贩子；发牌者

参考例句：

• There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
• The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败，与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。

19 alienate   

vt.使疏远，离间；转让(财产等)

参考例句：

• His attempts to alienate the two friends failed because they had complete faith.他离间那两个朋友的企图失败了，因为他们彼此完全信任。
• We'd better not alienate ourselves from the colleagues.我们最好还是不要与同事们疏远。