2019年经济学人美国贸易政策(2)（打印版）

Plans are being hatched but have not yet been executed, he says.

他表示，计划正在酝酿中，但尚未付诸实施。

Plants in Mexico owned by international carmakers have the most changes to make.

国际汽车制造商在墨西哥的工厂要做的改变最多。

The delay is in part because reforging supply chains is a slow and costly affair.

推迟计划的部分原因是，重塑供应链是一件缓慢且代价高昂的事情。

Plants and production lines are planned years in advance. Finding new suppliers requires lengthy certification processes.

工厂和生产线需要提前几年做计划。寻找新的供应商需要漫长的认证过程。

But politicians also bear some of the blame. Congressional haggling over the USMCA means that

但政治家也要承担部分责任。国会对USMCA讨价还价意味着

there is still uncertainty about whether and when it will come into force.

它是否能以及何时能生效仍然存在不确定性。

And until legislation is passed, the details will remain unclear.

在立法通过之前，细节仍不明朗。

One parts-maker grouses about "inconsistency in the application and interpretation of the rules",

一位零件制造商抱怨规则的应用和解释不一致”，

having received a variety of requests for information from different manufacturers,

因为他受到了来自不同制造商的各种信息请求，

each seeking to find out whether a product would be compliant. Such vagueness makes planning even harder.

每一位都想知道某个产品是否可用。这种模糊使得计划更加困难。

Then there are Mr Trump's other traderelated threats: to put further tariffs on imported components from China,

然后还有来自特朗普的其他与贸易相关的威胁：对从中国进口的零部件加征关税，

and to slap duties on imported cars and parts from the EU.

以及对从欧盟进口的汽车和零部件征收关税。

Executives have faced up to the fact that tensions with China could be long-lasting, but are struggling to work out how high tariffs could end up.

高管们已经面对这样一个事实：与中国的紧张关系可能会持续很长时间，但他们正在努力弄清楚关税最终能达到多高。

Threatened duties on imported car parts, ostensibly to protect America's national security,

威胁对进口汽车零件征收关税，从表面来看是保护美国国家安全，

have come under such intense criticism that company bosses hope they will never be applied.

但它受到了如此强烈的批评，以至于公司老板们希望它们永不被采用。

But Mr Trump's obsession with cars is too great for them to bet on it.

但特朗普对汽车的痴迷程度，让他们不敢押注于此。

The president's critics will complain that his meddling in car companies' supply chains comes with costs,

批评总统的人会抱怨说，他干涉汽车公司的供应链是要付出代价的，

and that he is both bringing higher prices for consumers and sapping the competitiveness of America as an export base. All true.

并且他给消费者带来了更高的价格，也削弱了美国作为出口基地的竞争力。说的没错。

But if his chief desire is that more auto production is done in America than would have been without his measures,

但如果他的主要愿望是希望在没有他的措施下，美国的汽车生产将会增加，

it is too soon to declare that he has failed.

那么现在宣布他失败还为时过早。