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TPP贸易协议未能达成

Top trade officials reported progress, but no final deal, after negotiations¹ this week in Singapore on the proposed Trans Pacific Partnership², or TPP. Advocates say the TPP would streamline³ commerce, boost the economy, and create jobs by coordinating⁴ regulations and removing non-tariff⁵ barriers for 12 Pacific nations from America to Vietnam. But U.S. critics say some of those "barriers" are hard-won protections for consumers, the environment, and workers.

参与跨太平洋合作伙伴关系(TPP)谈判的各国最高级别贸易官员本周在新加坡结束谈判后表示，谈判取得了进展，但未能签署最终协议。TPP的支持者表示，这一协议可以通过协调规程、取消非关税贸易壁垒简化经商过程、促进经济和增加就业。但美国的批评人士指出，有些“壁垒”对消费者、环境和工人来说是难得的保障。

The 12 nations haggling⁶ over the Trans Pacific Partnership include some of the world’s most robust⁷ economies, accounting⁸ for about one-third of global trade.

参与TPP谈判的12个国家当中包括一些世界上实力最强的经济体，它们占据了全球贸易额的三分之一。

U. S. Congressman⁹ Charles Boustany says a lot of jobs already depend on trade among TPP nations, so more trade would mean more jobs.

美国国会议员查尔斯?布斯坦尼说，很多就业已经依赖于TPP国家之间的贸易，因此更多的贸易就意味更多的就业。

“In 2011, trade exports and imports of goods and services with TPP countries supported an estimated 14.9 million American jobs," said Boustany.

美国国会议员布斯坦尼说：“2011年，TPP国家之间的商品和服务贸易支撑了大约1490万个美国工作岗位。”

The Pacific nations set to resume trade talks in January include Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the United States.

TPP国家将于1月份回复谈判。这些国家包括澳大利亚、文莱、智力、日本、马来西亚、新西兰、秘鲁、新加坡、越南和美国。

Disputes include access to Japan's market for U.S. autos and agricultural products, and haggling among other nations about protection for intellectual property.

谈判的分包括日本向美国开发汽车和农产品市场，还有其它国家质检有关知识产区保护问题的讨价还价。

U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman hopes further negotiations will bring progress.

美国贸易代表弗尔曼希望今后的谈判能够取得进展。

"We will continue to work with flexibility¹⁰ to finalize¹¹ these text issues as well as market access issues," he said.

他说： “我们将在保持一定灵活性的情况下继续努力，争取完成在文件措辞上和市场准入问题上的谈判。”

Experts say previous trade deals focused on cutting tariffs¹², which made it cheaper to move goods from one nation to another. Lower costs encouraged more trade. Tariffs are taxes on goods moving across borders.

专家表示，此前的贸易协议主要是降低关税水平，这就使得商品从一个国家出口的奥另一个国家的成本更低。低成本有助于促进贸易。

TPP is an attempt to increase trade further by making regulations consistent from one nation to another, and getting rid of bureaucratic¹³ obstacles that take time, cost money, and slow trade, according to Washington attorney and former trade U. S. trade negotiator Jay Eizenstat.

TPP旨在让各国与贸易相关的法律法规一致，消除行政障碍。前美国贸易谈判代表、律师杰?艾森施塔特说，这些行政壁垒耗时、耗费财力、阻碍贸易。

"Non tariff barriers, behind the border barriers, and importantly, regulatory barriers, which as I have said impose at least as much ... and in many cases, more of a barrier to trade in goods and services, than the actual tariffs themselves," said Eizenstat.

前贸易谈判代表艾森施塔特说：“非关税壁垒、边境壁垒，更重要的是监管障碍在很多情况下对贸易的影响比关税来得还要严重，至少是和关税的危害程度是一样的。”

But some of those regulations protect consumers, the financial system, the environment, patients, workers, and others from harm, according to Lori Wallach of the advocacy group Public Citizen.

但美国消费者权益团体“公共市民”(Public Citizen)的沃利奇表示，有些监管措施对保护消费者、保护金融体系、环境、病患和工人来说是十分重要的。

"They label the fundamental environmental, health, safety standards on which our families rely as 'non-tariff trade barrier,"' she said.

市民沃利奇说：“这些所谓的‘非关税壁垒’对环境、健康、安全标准等这些每个家庭生活所依赖的都非常重要。”

Wallach says the TPP is more about politics than trade.

沃利奇表示，TPP更多的是政治而非贸易。

“A bunch of big corporations have used these trade agreements to try to get done through the back door of these secretive negotiations what they could not get through Congress," she said.

他说： “一些大企业以这些贸易协议为幌子，通过秘密谈判开后门，办他们在国会办不成的事。”

Opposition¹⁴ from some consumer and labor¹⁵ groups and many of President Obama's Democratic Party allies means a TPP deal faces an uncertain future in Washington. The agreement has to be ratified¹⁶ by many national legislatures, including the U.S. Congress.

消费者团体、劳工组织还有很多总统奥巴马在民主党的盟友的反对意味TPP的未来在华盛顿充满不确定性。该协议必须要得到大多数国家立法机构的批准，包括美国国会。

TPP supporters hope to work out a legislative¹⁷ agreement to prevent last minute changes by Congress to any agreement that has been worked out with the TPP nations.

TPP支持者希望能够达成一份立法协议，以防国会在最后一刻对经过艰苦谈判所达成的TPP协议的内容做出修改。