2019年经济学人 一周要闻 中美谈判大门仍敞开 美国打压华为 旧金山禁人脸识别技术(在线收听

 

The world this week

本周要闻

Business

商业

China said it would increase tariffs on a range of American goods. This was in retaliation for Donald Trump’s decision to raise duties on $200bn-worth of Chinese exports following the breakdown of talks that had tried to end the two countries’ stand-off over trade. In addition, American officials said they were seeking to extend levies to all remaining Chinese imports to the United States. Both sides are holding off on imposing their punishing tariffs for a few weeks, giving negotiators more time to try to end the impasse. Even if there is a deal, it is unlikely to reduce tensions between the two powers over trade, and other matters.

中国表示,将提高一系列美国商品的关税。这是对特朗普决定提高价值2000亿美元的中国出口产品的关税的反击。此前,旨在结束两国贸易僵局的谈判破裂。此外,美国官员表示,他们正寻求将征税范围扩大到所有剩下的中国输美产品。双方都将实施惩罚性关税推迟了几周,这给谈判代表更多时间来试图结束僵局。即使达成协议,也不太可能缓解两国在贸易和其他问题上的紧张关系。

The transfer of technology is another contentious issue for China and America. A few days after the collapse of the trade talks, Mr Trump and the Commerce Department signed orders blocking Huawei, a Chinese tech giant, from involvement with American mobile networks and suppliers. America has pressed its allies to shun the firm, citing security worries, but has had only limited success.

对中国和美国来说,技术转让是另一项有争议的问题。贸易谈判破裂几天后,特朗普与美国商务部签署命令,禁止中国科技巨头华为与美国移动网络和供应商合作。美国以安全担忧为由,敦促其盟友不要与华为合作,但收效甚微。

The Chinese economy may be slowing more than had been thought, according to new data. China’s retail sales grew at their slowest rate in 16 years in April. Industrial production expanded by 5.4%, the slowest rate in a decade.

最新数据显示,中国经济增速放缓幅度或超过此前预期。今年4月,中国零售额增速降至16年来最低水平。工业生产增长5.4%,为十年来最低。

Germany’s economy grew by 0.4% in the first three months of the year compared with the previous quarter. That brought some relief for the government following a six-month period when the country almost slipped into recession. Officials warned that global trade rows could still knock the economy off course. In Britain, GDP rose by 0.5% in the first quarter, helped by businesses stockpiling goods ahead of the now-missed Brexit deadline of March 29th.

今年前三个月,德国经济同比增长0.4%。这让政府稍觉宽慰,此前的6个月该国几乎陷入衰退。官员们警告称,全球贸易争端仍可能导致经济偏离轨道。在英国,由于企业赶在3月29日英国脱欧最后期限前囤积货物,第一季度GDP增长0.5%。

Bayer lost a third court case in America brought by plaintiffs claiming that a weedkiller made by Monsanto, which Bayer took over last year, caused their cancer. This time the jury ordered the German conglomerate to pay $2bn in damages to an elderly couple, a sum far greater than that awarded to the plaintiffs in two previous trials. Bayer’s share price plunged.

拜耳在美国的第三起诉讼中败诉,原告声称,拜耳去年接手的孟山都公司生产的除草剂是他们患癌的罪魁祸首。这一次,陪审团命令这家德国企业集团向一对老年夫妇支付20亿美元的赔偿金,这一金额远高于此前两次审判中原告获得的赔偿金。拜耳的股价应声暴跌。

Officials in San Francisco voted to make it the first American city to ban the use of facial- recognition software by the local government. Legislators worry that the technology, which is spreading rapidly, is unreliable and open to abuse.

旧金山的官员投票决定,该市将成为美国首个禁止地方政府使用面部识别软件的城市。立法者们担心这项正在迅速传播的技术是不可靠的,并且易被滥用。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/2019jjxr/480448.html