密歇根新闻广播 贸易战对底特律影响巨大

 

The Chinese say they're willing to change the rules that protect their precious auto¹ industry. That'd be the industry companies like General Motors have spent a generation building with Chinese partners because, over there, he who controls the government rules.

President Xi Jinping says he would reduce tariffs² on foreign-made cars and trucks. That might mean something if, say, GM exported more than 200 Camaros a year there. The rest of the four million vehicles it sells in China are made in China.

Chinese planners say they would be open to full foreign ownership of their automakers. That would reverse more than 20 years of partnership³ with Detroit companies – precisely⁴ the kind of relationship the government used its heavy hand to broker⁵.

What's changed here? Depends on who's asking.

President Donald Trump⁶ and his cheering section credit pressure from the guy in the Oval Office. Trump alone has the guts⁷ to take on the Chinese, to slap $150 billion in tariffs on exports to the United States. He alone understands that China needs the rich U.S. market more than Americans need China.

Not so fast. There's a reason the Chinese are suddenly so magnanimous and it has nothing to do with the Twitterer-in-Chief.

After two decades of partnering with GM, Ford⁸ Motor, and Volkswagen, China's own auto industry is maturing – fast.

Some of its biggest players are acquiring prominent global assets and turning them around. Chinese automaker Geely did it with Sweden's Volvo Cars. They're taking massive stakes in the industry's crown jewels; Geely acquired nearly 10 percent of Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler AG, shocking Germany's power structure.

They're preparing to enter the rich U.S. market with their own Chinese-built and Chinese-branded cars. Guangzhou Automobile⁹ said as much at this year's Detroit auto show.

These are not passive players patiently earning their way into the automotive Big Leagues like the Japanese did. They're formidable, with big checkbooks and appetites for risk.

Promising¹⁰ to drop import tariffs on American-made metal doesn't mean much on the ground. President Xi gives Trump the proverbial sleeves from his vest, Trump gets a win to tout¹¹ on Twitter, and the trade-off paves the way for China to pocket a more important concession¹².

Same for foreign ownership of Chinese automakers.

What's more likely: that an American automaker already operating in China acquires its partner outright¹³? Or that a Chinese partner steeped in the global industry marshals capital to buy a foreign rival and get a one-way ticket to America?

There are all sorts of political reasons why that probably would not happen. But that doesn't mean it couldn't or that it never will. If Trump is playing a long game here, the Chinese are playing a longer one.

That's one reason Detroit's automakers are publicly silent about apparent Chinese concessions¹⁴. They've spent enough time in China to know few things can be taken at face value — and that includes telling an American president what he wants to hear.

Daniel Howes is a columnist¹⁵ at The Detroit News. Views expressed in his essays are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Michigan Radio, its management or the station licensee, The University of Michigan.

1 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

2 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。

3 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

4 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

5 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

6 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。

7 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

9 automobile   

n.汽车，机动车

参考例句：

• He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。
• The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

10 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

11 tout   

v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱

参考例句：

• They say it will let them tout progress in the war.他们称这将有助于鼓吹他们在战争中的成果。
• If your case studies just tout results,don't bother requiring registration to view them.如果你的案例研究只是吹捧结果，就别烦扰别人来注册访问了。

12 concession   

n.让步，妥协；特许(权)

参考例句：

• We can not make heavy concession to the matter.我们在这个问题上不能过于让步。
• That is a great concession.这是很大的让步。

13 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

14 concessions   

n.（尤指由政府或雇主给予的）特许权( concession的名词复数 )；承认；减价；（在某地的）特许经营权

参考例句：

• The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
• The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。

15 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。