VOA慢速英语--美国农民为应对贸易战的长期影响做准备

US Farmers Preparing for Long-Term Effects of Trade War

Brian Duncan slowly moves his hands over the waves of grain growing behind his home in rural Illinois.

Images like this make one think of the good life on a successful American farm. But it hides the hardship Duncan currently faces.

“We’re in trouble,” he told VOA.

Brian Duncan serves as vice¹ president of the Illinois Farm Bureau, a not-for-profit organization for the state’s farmers.

Wheat is just one product that grows on Duncan’s farm. He also raises pigs. The farm is also home to about 70,000 pigs every year. He sells their meat to buyers overseas.

Duncan said his crops “were projected to be profitable this year.” They were, but not anymore.

Pork, the meat from pigs, is now subject to a 62 percent Chinese tariff², and demand is decreasing in China, one of the world’s largest pork markets.

“Once that tariff went on, the pork stopped going into China. Not going to Taiwan, either. Not finding other routes. That market just disappeared,” said Duncan.

The Illinois farmer said he expected to earn a $4 to $5 profit on each pig, but now it is a $7 to $8 loss per animal.

“The difference between making and losing money in the hog³ industry is exports,” said Duncan. He added that for most hog farmers, exports are the only way to be profitable.

China’s new taxes on U.S. pork products could mean long-term financial difficulties, especially for independent farmers like him.

“The reality is 95 percent of the world population is outside these borders. We need them…as markets and trading partners,” Duncan said.

Tariffs⁴ begin to bite

U.S. farmers like Duncan are beginning to feel the effects of tariffs set up by China to answer U.S. tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum⁵.

In May 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump⁶ said he had a possible trade deal with China.

The goal, in part, was to reduce the trade deficit⁷ with China. But this month, the Trump administration argued with China over suspected theft of intellectual property and technology. The two sides also argued over China’s system of pressuring of foreign companies doing business in China to give away intellectual property.

So, the U.S. government announced 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion of imported Chinese goods and threatened more. China answered with its own tariffs on $34 billion worth of U.S. products, including pork and soybeans.

U.S. officials are preparing to announce tariffs on an additional $16 billion worth of Chinese exports. The administration also is considering tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese goods. China has promised more action to answer any U.S. move.

As the trade war continues, Duncan is losing money on nearly everything growing on his farm because of tariffs.

“Soybeans were a buck⁸ and a half higher than they are now,” he told VOA. “Corn was 50 to 70 cents higher than it is now. So, certainly the attitude has changed here in the last two to three weeks.”

So have Duncan’s emotions.

“Frustrated…This was predictable — the outcome. There was a better way to go about this,” he said.?

Long-term loss of market

Tamara Nelsen is senior director of commodities with the Illinois Farm Bureau. She says that history shows the long-term result of tariffs and trade restrictions¹⁰ is a loss of markets and a loss of competitiveness for U.S. products.

“In every event, we lost market share…And it took U.S. agriculture 20, 30 years to get some of those markets back. And in some cases, we haven’t gotten those markets back,” Nelsen said.

For Duncan, the long-term effect will be on the image of U.S. farm products. This is his biggest concern.

“How are we going to be seen? Is a country going to look at us and say, ‘Why would I sign an agreement with them, anyhow? If they don’t like something we do, are they just going to put a bunch of tariffs up and blow things up?' How are we seen going forward in the next five, 10, 15, 20 years? For me, that is the biggest issue more than the here and now.”

Farm income at risk

But in the here and now is the difficult reality that farmers are also experiencing their fifth year of falling earnings¹¹.

“We’ve seen farm income cut in half in the last four years for various reasons. We could easily see it cut in half again if we lost all our export markets,” Duncan said. He also said this could increase farmers’ dependence¹² on government aid at a time when U.S. lawmakers debate legislation that the agriculture industry needs to provide security.

All of the changes have him thinking about his choices the next time Duncan goes to the ballot¹³ box.

“It’s the economy, stupid. My vote will depend an awful lot on the farm economy,” he said. "That’s just the world I live in.”

I’m Dorothy Gundy.

Words in This Story

tariff – n. a tax on goods coming into or leaving a country

route – n. a way of achieving or doing something

hog – n. another word for pig

theft – n. the act of stealing something

retaliation¹⁴ – n. to do something bad to someone who has hurt you or treated you badly

income – n. money earned from work or investments

attitude – n. the way you think and feel about someone or something

frustrate⁹ – v. : to keep (someone) from doing something

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

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 hog   

n.猪；馋嘴贪吃的人；vt.把…占为己有，独占

参考例句：

• He is greedy like a hog.他像猪一样贪婪。
• Drivers who hog the road leave no room for other cars.那些占着路面的驾驶员一点余地都不留给其他车辆。

4 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。

5 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

6 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。

7 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

8 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。

9 frustrate   

v.使失望；使沮丧；使厌烦

参考例句：

• But this didn't frustrate Einstein.He was content to go as far as he could.但这并没有使爱因斯坦灰心，他对能够更深入地研究而感到满意。
• They made their preparations to frustrate the conspiracy.他们作好准备挫败这个阴谋。

10 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

11 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

12 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

13 ballot   

n.（不记名）投票，投票总数，投票权；vi.投票

参考例句：

• The members have demanded a ballot.会员们要求投票表决。
• The union said they will ballot members on whether to strike.工会称他们将要求会员投票表决是否罢工。

14 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》