美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump Administration Threatens Even Higher Tariffs On China

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

President Trump¹ is ratcheting up the pressure on China over trade. The administration today threatened to raise proposed tariffs³ on Chinese imports from 10 percent to 25 percent. That would turn the ongoing⁴ tensions between Washington and Beijing into a full-fledged trade war. To help us explain what is unfolding, we're joined now by NPR's Jim Zarroli. Hey, Jim.

JIM ZARROLI, BYLINE⁵: Hi.

CHANG: So how did the White House explain why it's doing this?

ZARROLI: Well, the United States has already threatened to impose tariffs of 10 percent on $200 billion-worth of Chinese imports. And senior administration officials said today that President Trump has told U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer to consider raising the tariffs to 25 percent. This isn't a done deal. There's going to be a comment period, for instance, before this would go through. But clearly there's this effort now to show that the administration isn't going to back down. It's going to step up the pressure and sort of take this as far as they need...

CHANG: Right.

ZARROLI: ...It needs to.

CHANG: So how is China responding so far?

ZARROLI: Well, when news of this threat of a tariff² increase came out today, Beijing issued a statement - a strong statement saying it wouldn't give in to blackmail⁶ and threats. And U.S. officials say this has been China's response all along. They - the administration says it's been in talks with China. Over and over again, it's asked it to address concerns about its unfair trade practices. The U.S. wants China to act more on a free-market basis, stop preventing U.S. companies that want to do business there from entering the market.

China hasn't addressed these concerns, the administration says. And, in fact, it's retaliated⁷ with tariffs of its own. The administration says they've essentially⁸ doubled down on their unfair practices, and there's no sign now that they're going to reverse course.

CHANG: So this constant one-upping, I mean, what does this say about the current state of the talks between U.S. - the U.S. and China?

ZARROLI: Well, I - it says the countries are - they're playing sort of a big game of chicken. I spoke⁹ today to Michael Camunez, who was in the Commerce Department in the Obama administration working on trade issues. And he says he thinks this has the potential to really escalate¹⁰ now.

MICHAEL CAMUNEZ: I think it is a very serious situation. I think it would be a very complicated thing to get out of because I don't see an easy remedy once we go down this path.

ZARROLI: And Camunez says one of the problems is that the Trump administration still seems to be talking out of both sides of its mouth. You have Treasury¹¹ Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who has been trying to come to some kind of deal with China to resolve these issues. But there are others in the administration, people like Robert Lighthizer, the U.S. trade representative, who - who's often seemed to be on a different page.

CAMUNEZ: There are folks in the White House that really think that the best approach to China is a very aggressive one. And that position clearly seems to be prevailing¹².

CHANG: So what does this all ultimately mean for American consumers? How are they going to feel all this?

ZARROLI: Well, it's not clear. I mean, one of the interesting things that's happened here is that as these trade tensions have played out really all over the world, we've seen what often happens, which is that people - investors¹³ turn to safe havens¹⁴ like U.S. Treasury debt, like the dollar. And the Chinese currency has actually weakened. So on the one hand, you have - and that tends to make the cost of Chinese imports to the United States lower.

So on the one hand, you have these tariffs that are supposed to increase the cost of imports. But the Chinese currency is weakening, so the costs are going down. So in general, we can't really tell what the impact is yet. But I think it's safe to say a lot of businesses and a lot - especially a lot of farmers are very nervous about where this is going.

CHANG: That's NPR's Jim Zarroli. Thank you, Jim.

ZARROLI: You're welcome.

(SOUNDBITE OF MAYBESHEWILL'S "WAKING LIFE")

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 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 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

5 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。

6 blackmail   

n.讹诈，敲诈，勒索，胁迫，恫吓

参考例句：

• She demanded ＄1000 blackmail from him.她向他敲诈了1000美元。
• The journalist used blackmail to make the lawyer give him the documents.记者讹诈那名律师交给他文件。

7 retaliated   

v.报复，反击( retaliate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• When he once teased her for her inexperience, she retaliated. 有一次，他讥讽她没有经验，她便反唇相讥。 来自辞典例句
• The terrorists retaliated by killing three policemen. 恐怖分子以杀死三名警察相报复。 来自辞典例句

8 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。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 escalate   

v.(使)逐步增长(或发展)，(使)逐步升级

参考例句：

• It would tempt Israel's neighbors to escalate their demands.它将诱使以色列的邻国不断把他们的要求升级。
• Defeat could cause one side or other to escalate the conflict.失败可能会导致其中一方将冲突升级。

11 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

12 prevailing   

adj.盛行的；占优势的；主要的

参考例句：

• She wears a fashionable hair style prevailing in the city.她的发型是这个城市流行的款式。
• This reflects attitudes and values prevailing in society.这反映了社会上盛行的态度和价值观。

13 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

14 havens   

n.港口，安全地方( haven的名词复数 )v.港口，安全地方( haven的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Your twenty havens would back out at the last minute anyhow. 你那二十个避难所到了最后一分钟也要不认帐。 来自辞典例句
• Using offshore havens to avoid taxes and investor protections. 使用海面的港口避免税和投资者保护。 来自互联网