美貿(mào)易代表就中國(guó)市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)國(guó)家地位發(fā)出警告

Donald Trump’s trade tsar has fired a warning shot at both Beijing and the World Trade Organisation, cautioning that any decision to label China a “market economy” would have “cataclysmic” consequences for the body.

唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的貿(mào)易沙皇、美國(guó)貿(mào)易代表羅伯特•萊特希澤(Robert Lighthizer)發(fā)出了一份同時(shí)針對(duì)中國(guó)政府和世界貿(mào)易組織(WTO)的警告，提醒說(shuō)任何將中國(guó)列入“市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)”國(guó)家的舉動(dòng)都會(huì)對(duì)WTO產(chǎn)生“災(zāi)難性”影響。

Testifying before Congress on Wednesday, Robert Lighthizer said the US was eager to see changes in the WTO’s dispute resolution system, arguing that the country had unfairly ended up as the top target for complaints in the global trade court.

周三在美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)作證時(shí)，萊特希澤表示美國(guó)急切地想要看到WTO爭(zhēng)端仲裁機(jī)制的改革，并聲稱(chēng)美國(guó)已被不公正地當(dāng)成了這個(gè)全球貿(mào)易法庭中投訴的首要目標(biāo)。

But the US trade representative singled out a dispute brought last December by China against the EU and US over whether it should be deemed a market economy as the “most serious litigation that we have at the WTO right now”.

不過(guò)，這位美國(guó)貿(mào)易代表專(zhuān)門(mén)提到了去年12月，圍繞中國(guó)是否應(yīng)被列入市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)國(guó)家，中國(guó)針對(duì)歐盟(EU)和美國(guó)發(fā)起的爭(zhēng)端。他稱(chēng)，這一爭(zhēng)端是“我們目前在WTO面臨的最嚴(yán)重訴訟”。

“I have made it very clear that a bad decision with respect to the non-market economy status of China . . . would be cataclysmic for the WTO,” he said.

他說(shuō)：“我已非常明確的表態(tài)過(guò)，對(duì)于WTO來(lái)說(shuō)，在中國(guó)非市場(chǎng)經(jīng)濟(jì)地位方面的錯(cuò)誤決策……會(huì)是災(zāi)難性的。”

Mr Lighthizer did not say what US action that would lead to and he added he was “assuming . . . that the WTO is going to do the right thing”. But the warning pointed to how the Trump administration is scrambling the US relationship with the WTO and other multilateral institutions it helped create following the second world war.

萊特希澤并未表示這會(huì)導(dǎo)致美國(guó)的什么舉動(dòng)，他補(bǔ)充說(shuō)他“目前假定……WTO會(huì)采取正確措施”。不過(guò)，這一警告也顯示出特朗普政府正如何打亂美國(guó)與WTO及其他多邊機(jī)構(gòu)的關(guān)系，而這些機(jī)構(gòu)正是二戰(zhàn)后美國(guó)幫助建立的。

The Trump administration has so far taken a more cautious approach towards trade with China than the president promised during his campaign. On the campaign trail Mr Trump railed against the US’s $300bn annual trade deficit with Beijing and threatened to impose tariffs on Chinese goods and label China a currency manipulator.

到目前為止，特朗普政府在對(duì)華貿(mào)易上的應(yīng)對(duì)方式比選戰(zhàn)期間承諾得要小心得多。選戰(zhàn)期間，特朗普曾極力抱怨美國(guó)與中國(guó)3000億美元的年度貿(mào)易赤字，威脅要對(duì)中國(guó)商品征稅，并把中國(guó)列入?yún)R率操縱國(guó)。

After a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping earlier this year Mr Trump announced a 100-day plan to tackle trade issues and promised a friendlier tone if Beijing reined in North Korea. As part of that process Washington and Beijing announced an interim deal last month that allowed a resumption of US beef exports to China and paved the way for other measures including additional US LNG exports.

而在今年早些時(shí)候與中國(guó)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人習(xí)近平會(huì)晤后，特朗普宣布了一個(gè)處理貿(mào)易問(wèn)題的百日計(jì)劃，并承諾如果北京方面約束朝鮮的行為，美方將采取更友好的基調(diào)。上個(gè)月，作為該計(jì)劃的一部分，美國(guó)政府和中國(guó)政府公布了一個(gè)中期協(xié)議，恢復(fù)美國(guó)對(duì)中國(guó)的牛肉出口，并為增加美國(guó)液化天然氣(LNG)出口等其他措施鋪平道路。

But Mr Lighthizer said on Wednesday that this was just one strand of discussions and warned that many other tough negotiations lay ahead. Among the issues the US was now focusing on were new barriers to US tech companies doing business in China, he said.

不過(guò)，萊特希澤周三表示，這只是美中磋商的一個(gè)方面。他警告稱(chēng)，雙方還將開(kāi)展許多其他艱難的磋商。他說(shuō)，在種種問(wèn)題中，美國(guó)目前關(guān)心的是美國(guó)高科技企業(yè)在中國(guó)開(kāi)展業(yè)務(wù)面臨的新障礙。

“The pressure is still on,” he said. “The trade deficit still hasn’t come down.”

他說(shuō)：“壓力仍然很大，美中貿(mào)易赤字仍然沒(méi)有降下來(lái)。”