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(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
NOEL KING, HOST:
President Trump1 is reimposing tariffs3 on steel and aluminum4 imported from Brazil and Argentina. The president announced that news on Twitter this morning. NPR chief economics correspondent Scott Horsley is here to explain what's going on. Hi, Scott.
SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE5: Good morning, Noel.
KING: OK, so Brazil and Argentina were exempted6 from steel and aluminum tariffs in the spring of 2018. What happened?
HORSLEY: In his tweets this morning, the president accused these two countries of what he called massive devaluation of their currencies. Cheaper currency does give these countries' exporters an advantage in international trade. And Brazil is a pretty big exporter of steel to the United States, Argentina less so. In his tweet, though, the president did not talk about that competition hurting domestic steelmakers. Rather, he referenced competition for U.S. farmers, who are obviously an important constituency of the president - political constituency. What's really been hurting farmers, along with some pretty bad weather, is the president's trade war with China. When China dialed back its purchases of U.S. soybeans, for example, during that trade war, it did look to countries like Brazil as an alternate source of supply.
KING: It seemed over the past few months that some of the tension over trade was cooling off. Were things not as they seemed?
HORSLEY: Yeah, you know, there had been some signs of progress. There's talk of a trade agreement being finalized7 with Mexico and Canada. There is talk about at least a mini trade deal with China. Investors8 on Wall Street have certainly embraced that, more or less pricing in the idea that trade peace could be close at hand. Now maybe that confidence was misplaced. You know, last week, I, spoke9 with a manufacturer in Minnesota who said that he's really being hurt by the tariffs - not just the cost but also the uncertainty10. He said it's hard to make a decision or an investment when tariff2 policy can change with a tweet. And we got another reminder11 of that possibility this morning.
KING: Now, in those same tweets this morning, the president also asked the Federal Reserve to take action. He mentioned currency manipulation, currency devaluation in Argentina and Brazil. What does he want our central bank, the U.S. central bank, to do?
HORSLEY: He wants the Fed to act so that other countries can't - what he said - take advantage of the strong dollar. This is an interesting request because, ordinarily, it's the Treasury12 Department that steers13 U.S. currency policy, not the Federal Reserve. The central bank's mandate14 is stable prices and maximum employment, not driving down the dollar in an effort to boost exports. But the Fed does set interest rates. And, of course, that affects the value of the dollar. So in - what the president's really asking here in another set of words is what he's been asking for all along, which is for the Fed to lower interest rates even further. The central bank has already cut interest rates three times since July. And Fed officials are generally expected at this point to leave rates unchanged when they meet next week.
KING: Let me ask you to pull back 3,000 feet and get the larger view here. The president has long said that tariffs on imported steel and aluminum were going to help U.S. industries. Ultimately, is that what has happened here?
HORSLEY: Not really. You know, steelmakers did get an initial boost last year when the tariffs first went into effect, and the price of steel went up. Of course, that was hard on companies that use a lot of steel. And there's more of those than there are steelmakers. Since then, though, the price of steel has actually slumped15 again, partly as a result of falling demand. In the third quarter, U.S. Steel, for example, actually lost money. And it's announced layoffs16 of some workers. So the tariffs have created a lot of uncertainty, created a lot of angst, but they haven't necessarily been a lasting17 boost for domestic metalmakers.
KING: OK. And now some more uncertainty this morning for Brazil and Argentina. NPR's Scott Horsley. Scott, thanks so much for your time.
HORSLEY: You're welcome.
1 trump | |
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭 | |
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2 tariff | |
n.关税,税率;(旅馆、饭店等)价目表,收费表 | |
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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 | |
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4 aluminum | |
n.(aluminium)铝 | |
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5 byline | |
n.署名;v.署名 | |
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6 exempted | |
使免除[豁免]( exempt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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7 finalized | |
vt.完成(finalize的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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8 investors | |
n.投资者,出资者( investor的名词复数 ) | |
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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 | |
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10 uncertainty | |
n.易变,靠不住,不确知,不确定的事物 | |
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11 reminder | |
n.提醒物,纪念品;暗示,提示 | |
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12 treasury | |
n.宝库;国库,金库;文库 | |
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13 steers | |
n.阉公牛,肉用公牛( steer的名词复数 )v.驾驶( steer的第三人称单数 );操纵;控制;引导 | |
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14 mandate | |
n.托管地;命令,指示 | |
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15 slumped | |
大幅度下降,暴跌( slump的过去式和过去分词 ); 沉重或突然地落下[倒下] | |
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16 layoffs | |
临时解雇( layoff的名词复数 ); 停工,停止活动 | |
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17 lasting | |
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持 | |
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