中国威胁将报复美国金属关税

China has threatened retaliation after the Trump administration received a green light to impose steep tariffs on aluminium and steel imports on national security grounds, in the latest escalation of trade tension between the world’s top two economies.

在特朗普政府以国家安全为由对铝和钢材进口征收高额关税的构想迎来绿灯后，中国威胁要发起报复。这是世界两大经济体之间贸易紧张的最新升级。

US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross on Friday recommended a possible global tariff of at least 24 per cent on imports of steel and 7.7 per cent on aluminium after investigations into trade in both metals determined that import surges seen in recent years “threaten to impair our national security”.

美国商务部长威尔伯•罗斯(Wilbur Ross)上周五建议，可能对钢材进口开征至少为24%的全球关税，对铝进口开征至少为7.7%的关税。此前美方在对两种金属的贸易进行调查后确定，近年的进口激增“可能损害我国的国家安全”。

Wang Hejun, an official at China’s commerce ministry said imposing tariffs on such grounds was reckless. “The spectrum of national security is very broad and without a clear definition it could easily be abused,” he said.

中国商务部贸易救济调查局局长王贺军表示，以这类理由征收关税是轻率的。“‘国家安全’范围十分广泛，缺乏统一界定，极易造成滥用，”他表示。

“If the final decision from the US hurts China’s interests, we will certainly take necessary measures to protect our legitimate rights,” he added.

“如果美方最终的决定影响中国利益，中方必将采取必要措施维护自身正当权利，”他补充说。

Analysts say Beijing is wary of escalating any trade disputes for fear of damaging its export-dependent economy, and so will focus any retaliation on specific sectors — most likely particular agricultural goods such as soybeans, for which China is the US’ largest export market. Beijing this month launched an anti-dumping investigation into US exports of sorghum, an animal feed.

分析人士表示，北京方面不愿让任何贸易纠纷升级，担心那会损害中国的出口依赖型经济，所以中国的报复行动将聚焦于特定行业，最有可能的是大豆等特定农产品;中国是美国大豆的最大出口市场。北京本月已对美国出口的高粱(一种动物饲料)展开反倾销调查。

“For the moment I think China will just put out harsher rhetoric,” said Bo Zhuang, an economist at consultancy Trusted Sources. “Agricultural sector retaliation is more likely since (China’s) food price inflation is low. The next possible step will be going on further with a soyabean and corn investigation,” he added.

“就目前而言，我认为中国将只会发表更严厉的言论，”咨询公司“信源”(Trusted Sources)经济学家庄波表示。“由于(中国)食品价格通胀较低，农业部门的报复更有可能。下一步可能会进一步展开大豆和玉米调查，”他补充说。

Trade hardliners in Mr Trump’s administration are eager to take action against China after months of internal debate. One option presented by the commerce department on Friday was a targeted tax on steel and aluminium imports from China and other countries like Brazil and Vietnam. A third option would impose quotas to reduce metals imports from all countries to far below the level of 2017.

经过数月的内部辩论后，特朗普政府的贸易强硬派人士渴望对中国采取行动。商务部上周五提出的一个选择是对中国以及巴西和越南等国输美钢铁和铝产品征收针对性的关税。第三种选择将是实施配额，将来自所有国家的金属进口减少至远低于2017年数量的水平。

But the recommendations illustrate how Mr Trump’s desire to hit China, which the US steel industry blames for a collapse in metal prices in recent years, may result in collateral damage for US allies and invite retaliation.

但是这些建议展示出，特朗普打击中国的愿望(美国钢铁业将近年金属价格崩盘归咎于中国)可能给美国的盟友造成连带损害，并招致报复。

Officials in Brussels have already begun drafting possible retaliatory measures aimed at politically sensitive US products like Kentucky bourbon and Wisconsin dairy products if Mr Trump opts for a global quota or tariff system.

针对特朗普选择出台全球配额或关税制度的可能性，布鲁塞尔的官员们已经开始起草可能的报复措施，其矛头将指向政治上敏感的美国产品，如肯塔基州波旁威士忌和威斯康星州的乳制品。

Mr Trump has until April to decide whether to adopt any of the recommendations, Mr Ross said. The long-awaited results of the “Section 232” investigations into aluminium and steel imports caused shares in major US producers to rise sharply on Wall Street on Friday.

罗斯表示，特朗普最迟需要在4月份决定是否采纳任何建议。各方等待已久的针对铝和钢材进口的“第232条”调查结果出炉后，美国主要生产商的股价上周五大幅上涨。

During a meeting with members of Congress last week Mr Trump said he was convinced that imposing tariffs would “create a lot of jobs” and dismissed warnings that such measures in the past had hurt more than they had helped by causing higher costs for many companies.

特朗普上周在与国会议员开会时表示，他确信征收关税将“创造大量就业机会”，并对相关警告不屑一顾;这些警告称，以往这类措施带来的损害比帮助更多(因为它们推高了许多企业的成本)。

“I want to keep prices down but I also want to make sure that we have a steel industry and an aluminium industry and we do need that for national defence,” Mr Trump said. “If we ever have a conflict we don’t want to be buying steel [from] a country we are fighting.”

“我想保持价格处于低位，但我也想确保我国有钢铁工业和铝业，我国的国防确实需要这些产业，”特朗普表示。“如果有朝一日我们发生冲突，我们不希望从我们与之交战的国家购买钢材。”