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美欧将就贸易协定展开磋商

At the G8 Summit in Britain, President Barack Obama and European leaders announced the start of an effort to reach what is being called the biggest trade deal in history. Officials are focusing on regional trade agreements because the long effort to reach a new global trade deal is stalled.

在英国举行的八国集团首脑会议上，美国总统奥巴马和欧洲领导人宣布将开启有关据称是有史以来最大的贸易协议的谈判。由于针对一项新的全球性贸易协议的长期努力暂时停滞，官员们正集中精力设法达成区域性贸易协议。

British Prime Minister David Cameron stood with U.S. President Barack Obama and European Union leaders to make the announcement.

英国首相卡梅伦与奥巴马总统和欧盟领导人一道宣布这项计划。

"We are talking about what could be the biggest bilateral¹ trade deal in history," Cameron noted². "A deal that will have a greater impact than all the other trade deals on the table put together.

卡梅伦说：“我们正在谈论的可能是有史以来最大的双边贸易协定，它比任何其他协议加在一起的影响力都大。”

It was one of Cameron’s key goals for the summit he hosted for leaders of eight of the world’s top industrialized countries. But such regional trade deals are really not the leaders’ first choice, according to G8 expert Stephen Pickford of London’s Chatham House.

双边贸易协定是卡梅伦在他主持的这次八大工业强国的峰会上要达到的主要目的之一。但是，伦敦查塔姆国际事务研究所的斯蒂芬?皮克福德认为，这些区域性贸易协议并不是领导人们的首选，

“I think everybody accepts that having a fully³ multi-lateral, universal trade deal is the best option. But that seems to be unattainable at the moment. And so I think people are focusing on what is the second best, which is to take forward trade liberalization between willing partners,” said Pickford.

他说： “我认为所有人都觉得一个全面、多边的全球性贸易协议是最好的选择。但是看来现在很难达成。因此我认为人们把目光转向第二选择，就是在有意愿的伙伴国之间推进贸易自由化。”

But not all the partners are so ‘willing,’ even in this effort among close allies.

但是，并非所有的伙伴国都有这样的“意愿”，甚至在关系密切的同盟之间。

At preliminary talks, the French Trade Minister nearly vetoed the plan.

在初步会谈中，法国贸易部长尼科尔?布里克几乎否决了贸易协议计划。

France was concerned about trade in movies and other entertainment products. French officials want to protect their industries from the power of Hollywood and American Internet companies.

法国担心其电影业和其他娱乐产品会受到来自好莱坞和美国网络公司的冲击。

But aside from such concerns, most leaders see trade as a jobs creator and a stimulus⁴ to economic growth worldwide.

除了这些担心之外，大多数领导人都认为贸易会帮助增加就业，在全球范围内刺激经济增长。

“Most developed countries, and almost all of the G7, are still struggling to recover from the world economic and financial crisis. They are for the most part still mired⁵ in quite slow growth," Pickford stated. "And there are the first signs of trade tensions starting to emerge again.”

伦敦查塔姆国际事务研究所的皮克福德说：“大多数发达国家，包括几乎所有７大工业强国，都仍在艰难地从全球经济和金融危机中复苏。这些国家的经济增长大都相当缓慢，这已经造成一些贸易摩擦的出现。”

The leaders are determined⁶ not to let such tensions hurt their economic recovery efforts.

领导人们决心不让这些摩擦伤害到自己国家经济复苏的努力。

“It is important that we get it right and that means resisting the temptation to downsize our ambitions or avoid tough issues just for the sake of getting a deal,” said Obama.

美国总统奥巴马说：“重要的是我们要做得对，就是说不要受到得过且过的诱惑，为了达成一项协议而绕过那些困难的问题。”

It will take months, maybe years, to reach an EU-U.S. free-trade accord, and disagreements on some issues may force the leaders to scale back their ambitions. But President Obama promised to stay personally engaged in the issue, which he calls “critical” to the effort “to promote growth and jobs.”

这将好时数月，甚至几年，才会达成一项欧盟和美国之间的自由贸易协议，而在一些问题上的分歧也许会迫使各国领导人收敛他们的雄心。但是奥巴马总统承诺，他将亲自参与进来，他认为这项自由贸易协定对“提振经济和就业”有着“关键”作用。