美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Adviser's Warning About Food Supply Takeover Met With Skepticism

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The White House's top trade adviser¹ is offering a bleak² and suspicious view of global trade. The head of the president's National Trade Council says foreign firms buying U.S. companies pose a threat to national security. As NPR's Chris Arnold reports, it's a fringe view that puts him at odds³ with the vast majority of economists⁵.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE⁶: This week, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro issued a warning. He said basically bad trade policy is making America less safe today.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PETER NAVARRO: Today, we do not have a single company in the U.S. that can make flat panel displays for our military aircraft.

ARNOLD: Here's what Navarro's worried about. The U.S. imports more than we sell to the rest of the world. That's called the trade deficit⁷. And it means that some of our trading partners end up with a lot of cash. They use some of that to invest in the United States. They buy stocks. Sometimes they buy up U.S. companies. Most economists see this though as just part of global trade, which overall benefits all the countries involved. But Navarro has a darker view.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

NAVARRO: Suppose instead that it is not a benign⁸ ally buying up our companies, our technologies, our farmland and our food supply chain and ultimately controlling much of our defense⁹ industrial base. Rather, it is a rapidly militarizing strategic rival intent on hegemony in Asia and perhaps world hegemony.

ARNOLD: So in that scenario¹⁰, a country like China is going to buy up all of our defense contractors¹¹ and take over the world. That does not sound very good. And then there was this.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

NAVARRO: We have already begun to lose control of our food supply chain.

ARNOLD: OK. Wait a minute. We're losing control of our food supply?

DERMOT HAYES: I was completely confused by that comment. It's an uninformed statement.

ARNOLD: That's Dermot Hayes. He's an agribusiness economist⁴ in the farm belt at Iowa State University. So he keeps pretty close track of what's going on in the world of agriculture.

Are lots of U.S. companies in the food or agricultural area being bought up by the Chinese or something?

HAYES: There's nothing that's going on that would say that other governments are buying essential portions of our agricultural infrastructure¹².

ARNOLD: Hayes says a Chinese company did buy Smithfield Foods a few years ago. It's a big pork producer. But he says that actually was a really good thing.

HAYES: To Iowa and to the Midwest, that's been a great purchase because suddenly our exports to China skyrocketed.

ARNOLD: More jobs, more processing plants. So Hayes says that Navarro just isn't making any sense. In fact, he says the reality is the exact opposite. He says the U.S. is a massive exporter of food. So China, Japan, Mexico, lots of countries rely on us for their food supply. But Hayes says all this anti-trade talk from the Trump¹³ administration, that's making those countries nervous. Joe Glauber is an economist with the International Food Policy Research Institute.

JOSEPH GLAUBER: It does tend to spook people. And I think that that's the real damage that's being done right now.

ARNOLD: Glauber says he's been speaking with farmers and farm groups in the U.S. And they're worried that other countries are starting to look elsewhere to diversify¹⁴ imports for their food supply.

GLAUBER: They get concerned when they read reports that Mexico now is looking for potentially alternative sources of supply for soybeans and corn.

ARNOLD: Getting back to the national security issue, all this is not to say that foreign ownership of companies never creates a problem. Douglas Irwin is a Dartmouth College trade economist.

DOUGLAS IRWIN: All economists say that national security consideration should override¹⁵ any adherence¹⁶ to free trade. Adam Smith in "The Wealth Of Nations" going way back said defense is more important than opulence¹⁷. So economists have always recognized that.

ARNOLD: But Irwin says the government already reviews foreign purchases of companies with military or strategic technology or significance. And it sometimes blocks those purchases. And he says Navarro just didn't provide convincing evidence that there's actually anything to worry about here. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF DAVID HOLMES SONG, "STORY OF THE INK")

1 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。

2 bleak   

adj.(天气)阴冷的；凄凉的；暗淡的

参考例句：

• They showed me into a bleak waiting room.他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室。
• The company's prospects look pretty bleak.这家公司的前景异常暗淡。

3 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？

4 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。

5 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》

6 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。

7 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。

8 benign   

adj.善良的，慈祥的；良性的，无危险的

参考例句：

• The benign weather brought North America a bumper crop.温和的气候给北美带来大丰收。
• Martha is a benign old lady.玛莎是个仁慈的老妇人。

9 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

10 scenario   

n.剧本，脚本；概要

参考例句：

• But the birth scenario is not completely accurate.然而分娩脚本并非完全准确的。
• This is a totally different scenario.这是完全不同的剧本。

11 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

13 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。

14 diversify   

v.（使）不同，（使）变得多样化

参考例句：

• Our company is trying to diversify.我们公司正力图往多样化方面发展。
• Hills and woods diversify the landscape.山陵和树木点缀景色。

15 override   

vt.不顾，不理睬，否决；压倒，优先于

参考例句：

• The welfare of a child should always override the wishes of its parents.孩子的幸福安康应该永远比父母的愿望来得更重要。
• I'm applying in advance for the authority to override him.我提前申请当局对他进行否决。

16 adherence   

n.信奉，依附，坚持，固着

参考例句：

• He was well known for his adherence to the rules.他因遵循这些规定而出名。
• The teacher demanded adherence to the rules.老师要求学生们遵守纪律。

17 opulence   

n.财富，富裕

参考例句：

• His eyes had never beheld such opulence.他从未见过这样的财富。
• He owes his opulence to work hard.他的财富乃辛勤工作得来。