2018年CRI 2 mln US jobs could be affected by China's tariffs lists: Study

 

“There are a lot of low population rural areas affected¹ by tariffs³ such as corn tariffs, soybean tariffs, whisky tariffs. And there are areas that are more urbanized affected by tariffs such as tariffs on airplanes or pharmaceuticals⁴. It hits broad cross section of the US economy and really the majority of the counties in the United States are affected in some way.”

                                                                                              --Robert Maxim⁵, Senior Research Analyst⁶ at Brookings

A study by Washington-based think tank, Brookings, is warning that some 2 millions US jobs could be affected if the US side goes through with its tariff² threats.

The Brookings analysis is warning the impact is likely to hit the so-called US heartland, which is a major voter base for the Republicans, which currently control all three branches of the elected US government.

For more on the impact of the trade dispute, CRI's Washington correspondent Liu Kun sat down Robert Maxim, one of the researchers involved in the Brookings study.

Q: First could you please tell us what are the major findings of this stydy?

A: So (in) our finding, the top line number is we have roughly two million US jobs that could be impacted by the two rounds of tariffs. One thing I want to emphasize is that it is not any prediction of the number of jobs that could be lost in the US, rather what we are looking at is the number of potential jobs affected within the industries that are targeted by the tariffs. What we found are those industries that kind of spread throughout the country. They are both in rural, urban areas; they are in areas that voted for Hillary Clinton and areas voting for President Trump⁷. Overall, what we saw was about 52 percent of individual jobs exposed were in areas voted for President Trump and 48 percent were in areas voted for Hillary Clinton. What you see there is there are a lot of low population rural areas, a lot of farming areas that are areas that supported President Trump; they are affected by tariffs such as corn tariffs, soybean tariffs, whisky tariffs. And there are areas that are more urbanized and tended to vote for Hillary Clinton; they are affected by tariffs such as tariffs on airplanes (like) Boeing in the Washington State or the tariffs on pharmaceuticals which tend to be concentrated in more urbanized areas. So what we saw is that there is depending on the industry; it hits broad cross section of the US economy and really the majority of the counties in the United States are affected in some way.

Q: In general how do you think the life of American people will be influenced by the tariff lists not only by China but also by the United States against China?

A: I think tariff is going to affect you would see (with) two broad impacts. The first is that in certain areas particularly I think in more intermediate industries, the tariffs the US is levying⁸ on China would impact the US consumer goods and make them more expensive. They’ve hit or they would hit a lot of intermediate industries that go into the final goods US consumers end purchasing. And on the other side, one of the impacts on American firms and regions that are impacted by Chinese tariffs is they are gonna impact their exports. I mean whether it’s hog⁹ farmer in Iowa who does majority of their exports to China (and farmers who) produce soy, produce corn, but also China is a major customer for Boeing and the only real competitor to Boeing right now is Airbus. When you have a duopoly like that, (and) China is a potential major buyer in the future. That would impact down the line the exports and the well-being¹⁰ of that company, which would have a major impact on the region which it’s based. 

Q: How do you comment on the Chinese reaction so far?

A: I think everything they have done has been what most individuals watching the situation expected. The one thing I would know is that it’s clear that (if) China anticipated the US levying tariffs; they would put out within several hours of the US release in their list. It’s clearly a list that’s been thought through in advance. There were broad cross sections of American industries being impacted. There were geographical¹¹ cross sections being impacted.

1 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

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 pharmaceuticals   

n.医药品；药物( pharmaceutical的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the development of new pharmaceuticals 新药的开发
• The companies are pouring trillions of yen into biotechnology research,especially for pharmaceuticals and new seeds. 这些公司将大量资金投入生物工艺学研究，尤其是药品和新种子方面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 maxim   

n.格言，箴言

参考例句：

• Please lay the maxim to your heart.请把此格言记在心里。
• "Waste not,want not" is her favourite maxim.“不浪费则不匮乏”是她喜爱的格言。

6 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

7 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。

8 levying   

征（兵）( levy的现在分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税

参考例句：

• The high tax will be given levying to the foreign country car. 对外国汽车要予以征收高税。
• Levying estate income tax are considered to be goods tax. 遗产税是在财产所有者死亡后所征收的税。

9 hog   

n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占

参考例句：

• He is greedy like a hog.他像猪一样贪婪。
• Drivers who hog the road leave no room for other cars.那些占着路面的驾驶员一点余地都不留给其他车辆。

10 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

11 geographical   

adj.地理的；地区(性)的

参考例句：

• The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
• These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。