中美信息技術貿易談判取得突破

China and the US have announced a major agreement to slash tariffs on electronic goods around the world, bringing a successful close to what had become a major test of the world’s two biggest economies’ ability to negotiate trade agreements.

中美兩國宣佈達成了一項意義重大的協議，同意大幅削減全球各地電子產品的關稅，給兩國長期的貿易談判劃上了成功的句號，兩國能否達成貿易協議已經成爲對全球兩大經濟體能力的重大考驗。

The deal unveiled in Beijing on Tuesday ends an alMost 18-month stand-off that had frozen negotiations among more than 50 countries to update the 1996 Information Technology Agreement.

週二在北京宣佈的協議，結束了一場將近18個月的僵持。這場僵持曾導致50多個國家旨在修訂1996年《信息技術協議》(Information Technology Agreement,ITA)的談判被凍結。

Speaking in Beijing president Barack Obama said the US and China have reached an “understanding” on expanding the pact that “will contribute to a rapid conclusion to the broader negotiations in Geneva”.

美國總統巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)在北京表示，美中兩國已在擴大ITA協議問題上達成“諒解”，此舉“將有利於在日內瓦舉行的更廣範圍談判快速完成”。

The agreement has yet to be signed off by other countries involved in the ITA talks, which have been taking place within the World Trade Organisation. That approval is expected to come within weeks, although the US-China deal does not cover flatscreen televisions or monitors which may prove a further irritation for big producers such as Japan and South Korea.

該協議還需要得到ITA談判的其他參與國的簽字，此前ITA談判一直在世貿組織(WTA)框架內進行。預計該協議在未來幾周內將獲得批准，不過，美中協議範圍不包括平板電視。這可能引起日本、韓國等平板電視生產大國的更大不滿。

Once implemented the ITA update will substantially lower tariffs and liberalise the trade in more than 250 categories of high-tech products ranging from wireless headsets to new semiconductors and medical devices.

一旦執行之後，新版ITA將大幅降低關稅，使得逾250個種類的高科技產品——從無線耳麥到新型半導體和醫療設備——能夠自由貿易。

Beijing drastically reduced its list of excluded products to a few dozen earlier this year. The discussions with the US in recent weeks focused on fewer than 10 product categories including next-generation semiconductors, sophisticated measurement tools used in manufacturing and point-of-sale cards for downloading electronic games and other software.

今年，中國方面大幅縮短了例外產品清單的長度，減少到幾十種。最近幾周與美國的談判集中於不到10個產品類別，包括下一代半導體、加工中使用的先進測量工具，以及用於下載電子遊戲等軟件的POS機點卡。

As recently as last week US officials were expressing frustration with China. But over the past few days discussions resumed in Beijing and by Monday the two sides were exchanging final texts and translations of an agreement.

就在最近的上週，美國官員對中國表示了失望。但過去幾天裏，談判在北京重啓，到週一雙方就在交換一項協議的最終文本和翻譯版了。

The only late outstanding issue came over whether to announce the deal on Tuesday as part of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit or during a state visit on Wednesday by President Barack Obama.

唯一懸而未決的問題是這一協議該如何宣佈——是作爲週二在亞太經合組織(APEC)峯會成果，還是在美國總統於週三舉行的國事訪問時宣佈。