美貿(mào)易代表就中國市場經(jīng)濟國家地位發(fā)出警告

Donald Trump’s trade tsar has fired a warning shot at both Beijing and the World Trade Organisation, cautioning that any decision to label China a “market economy” would have “cataclysmic” consequences for the body.

唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)的貿(mào)易沙皇、美國貿(mào)易代表羅伯特•萊特希澤(Robert Lighthizer)發(fā)出了一份同時針對中國政府和世界貿(mào)易組織(WTO)的警告，提醒說任何將中國列入“市場經(jīng)濟”國家的舉動都會對WTO產(chǎn)生“災難性”影響。

Testifying before Congress on Wednesday, Robert Lighthizer said the US was eager to see changes in the WTO’s dispute resolution system, arguing that the country had unfairly ended up as the top target for complaints in the global trade court.

周三在美國國會作證時，萊特希澤表示美國急切地想要看到WTO爭端仲裁機制的改革，并聲稱美國已被不公正地當成了這個全球貿(mào)易法庭中投訴的首要目標。

But the US trade representative singled out a dispute brought last December by China against the EU and US over whether it should be deemed a market economy as the “most serious litigation that we have at the WTO right now”.

不過，這位美國貿(mào)易代表專門提到了去年12月，圍繞中國是否應被列入市場經(jīng)濟國家，中國針對歐盟(EU)和美國發(fā)起的爭端。他稱，這一爭端是“我們目前在WTO面臨的最嚴重訴訟”。

“I have made it very clear that a bad decision with respect to the non-market economy status of China . . . would be cataclysmic for the WTO,” he said.

他說：“我已非常明確的表態(tài)過，對于WTO來說，在中國非市場經(jīng)濟地位方面的錯誤決策……會是災難性的。”

Mr Lighthizer did not say what US action that would lead to and he added he was “assuming . . . that the WTO is going to do the right thing”. But the warning pointed to how the Trump administration is scrambling the US relationship with the WTO and other multilateral institutions it helped create following the second world war.

萊特希澤并未表示這會導致美國的什么舉動，他補充說他“目前假定……WTO會采取正確措施”。不過，這一警告也顯示出特朗普政府正如何打亂美國與WTO及其他多邊機構的關系，而這些機構正是二戰(zhàn)后美國幫助建立的。

The Trump administration has so far taken a more cautious approach towards trade with China than the president promised during his campaign. On the campaign trail Mr Trump railed against the US’s $300bn annual trade deficit with Beijing and threatened to impose tariffs on Chinese goods and label China a currency manipulator.

到目前為止，特朗普政府在對華貿(mào)易上的應對方式比選戰(zhàn)期間承諾得要小心得多。選戰(zhàn)期間，特朗普曾極力抱怨美國與中國3000億美元的年度貿(mào)易赤字，威脅要對中國商品征稅，并把中國列入?yún)R率操縱國。

After a meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping earlier this year Mr Trump announced a 100-day plan to tackle trade issues and promised a friendlier tone if Beijing reined in North Korea. As part of that process Washington and Beijing announced an interim deal last month that allowed a resumption of US beef exports to China and paved the way for other measures including additional US LNG exports.

而在今年早些時候與中國領導人習近平會晤后，特朗普宣布了一個處理貿(mào)易問題的百日計劃，并承諾如果北京方面約束朝鮮的行為，美方將采取更友好的基調(diào)。上個月，作為該計劃的一部分，美國政府和中國政府公布了一個中期協(xié)議，恢復美國對中國的牛肉出口，并為增加美國液化天然氣(LNG)出口等其他措施鋪平道路。

But Mr Lighthizer said on Wednesday that this was just one strand of discussions and warned that many other tough negotiations lay ahead. Among the issues the US was now focusing on were new barriers to US tech companies doing business in China, he said.

不過，萊特希澤周三表示，這只是美中磋商的一個方面。他警告稱，雙方還將開展許多其他艱難的磋商。他說，在種種問題中，美國目前關心的是美國高科技企業(yè)在中國開展業(yè)務面臨的新障礙。

“The pressure is still on,” he said. “The trade deficit still hasn’t come down.”

他說：“壓力仍然很大，美中貿(mào)易赤字仍然沒有降下來。”