美國通過貿易談判立法 亞洲盟友歡迎

HONG KONG — American allies in Asia on Wednesday welcomed a United States Senate vote that appeared to clear the way for a final round of negotiations over a sweeping trans-Pacific trade pact and may have made it easier for governments to make politically risky concessions.

香港——週三，美國的亞洲盟友對聯邦參議院的表決結果表示歡迎。這一結果看來爲一項廣泛的跨太平洋貿易協定開展最後一輪談判掃清了障礙，而且可能會令各國政府更易於做出帶有政治風險的讓步。

Japan’s minister responsible for trade negotiations, Akira Amari, said a congressional victory for President Obama could open the way for a deal as soon as next month.

日本負責貿易談判的大臣甘利明(Akira Amari)表示，奧巴馬總統在國會獲取的勝利或許會爲最快於下月達成協議鋪平道路。

“It’s possible we could have a ministerial-level meeting in July and conclude a broad agreement,” he told reporters. Any agreement would then require putting legislation in each country into effect, followed by approval there, which could take months.

“我們有可能在7月舉行部長級會議，達成一項廣泛的協議，”他告訴記者。無論內容如何，協議均需各個國家的立法機構批准並實施，而這個過程可能需要好幾個月的時間。

China, which is not among the 12 nations negotiating the deal and had proposed a competing agreement, refrained from criticizing the vote.

中國並未包含在參與這項協定談判的12個國家中，並已提出了一個與之競爭的協議。它沒有對參議院的此次表決提出批評。

For Mr. Obama, the deal, which appeared headed toward passage on Wednesday, represents an important element of the so-called pivot to Asia to help maintain United States influence as countries grow increasingly dependent on trade with China. For American allies, it offers the political cover to commit to trade concessions, removing the risk that Congress might reject the negotiated deal.

看起來，該協定在本週三離獲得通過更進一步。對於奧巴馬來說，它是“重返亞洲”戰略的重要一環。就在各國日益依靠對華貿易的時候，美國實施了“重返亞洲”戰略，以維持自身在該地區的影響力。對於美國的盟友來說，它爲承諾做出貿易讓步提供了政治掩護，消除了美國國會拒絕接受談判協議的風險。

China was initially wary of the trade measure, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, seeing it several years ago as potentially giving an advantage to American allies’ business over Chinese companies in United States markets. But those objections have faded as China has begun energetically pursuing its own regional trade agreements with East Asian neighbors.

中國起初對這項名爲“跨太平洋夥伴關係”（Trans-Pacific Partnership，簡稱TPP）的貿易協定持警惕態度，頭幾年的時候認爲它可能會使來自美國盟友的公司在美國市場上比中國公司更佔優勢。然而，隨着中國開始積極與東亞鄰國達成區域性的貿易協議，這種反對的聲音逐漸消退。

“Even if T.P.P. is done, I don’t think it will pose any threat to China — we follow our own efforts,” said He Weiwen, a former Chinese commerce ministry official who is now a director of the influential China-United States-European Union Study Center at the China Association of International Trade in Beijing.

曾擔任商務部官員的中國國際貿易學會中美歐研究中心主任何偉文表示，“即便達成了TPP協定，我覺得也不會對中國構成威脅——我們要走自己的道路。”

The Senate voted on Tuesday to end debate on legislation that would give Mr. Obama and his successor the authority for the next six years to negotiate trade agreements and submit them to Congress with no amendments or filibusters allowed.

參議院週二的表決是爲了結束圍繞授予奧巴馬總統及其繼任者貿易談判權的立法所展開的辯論。這項授權將允許總統在接下來的六年時間裏就貿易協定開展談判，並將協議提交給國會，而國會無權修訂最後的協定，也無法再實施冗長演說拖延戰術。

Ending debate required 60 votes, which the Senate’s Republican leadership barely mustered with limited support from Democrats. Passage of the actual legislation requires only 51 votes and would send the bill to the president, as the House of Representatives has already approved it.

參議院的共和黨領導層獲得了民主黨人的有限支持，勉強湊夠了結束辯論所需的60票。實際的授權只要51票便能獲得通過，然後就可以提交給總統簽署，因爲衆議院已經批准同樣的提案。

Like previous presidents, who have had similar trade negotiating authority, Mr. Obama contended that the authorization was necessary so other countries would make all available concessions in talks with American trade negotiators, instead of reserving some in case Congress rewrote a deal.

前幾任總統也擁有類似的貿易談判權。與他們一樣，奧巴馬提出，這種授權是必要的，如此一來，其他國家纔會在與美國貿易談判代表進行協商的時候做出所有可能的讓步，而不是有所保留，以防美國國會改寫協議。

But American labor unions, environmental activists and other critics bitterly opposed passage of the negotiating authority, contending that it undermined the ability of Congress to stop administration negotiators from working with large corporations to craft deals that might not be advantageous to workers or the environment.

不過，美國國內的工會組織、環保人士及其他一些持批評態度的人士強烈反對通過授予總統談判權的法案，認爲這會削弱國會阻止政府談判代表與大企業攜手達成可能會對勞動者或環境不利的協議的能力。

Final congressional approval of the legislation would clear the way for a difficult final round of talks on the details of the trade agreement, which would remove trade barriers from Canada and Chile to Australia, Singapore and Japan.

國會最終通過這項授權會爲開啓最後一輪有關TPP細節的艱難談判掃清障礙。該協議將會移除從加拿大、智利到澳大利亞、新加坡和日本的貿易壁壘。

Japan has been an especially difficult negotiating partner for the United States because it wants to preserve trade barriers on rice, pork and other agricultural products. Tokyo has indicated that it is prepared to compromise but, fearful of Japan’s restive farm lobby, it has refused to discuss details in public as long as it was unclear whether Mr. Obama had the power to conclude a deal.

對於美國來說，日本是一個特別難對付的洽談夥伴，因爲日本希望保留大米、豬肉及其他一些農產品的貿易壁壘。東京方面已經表明，日本準備做出讓步，但由於擔心強硬的本國農業遊說團體，只要尚不確定奧巴馬是否有權達成協議，日本就拒絕公開探討細節。

Another difficult question, which comes up for practically every free trade agreement, lies in so-called rules of origin: how to determine which goods are really made predominantly within the free-trade region and therefore qualify for tariff removal and other preferential trade access.

另一個難題幾乎每項自由貿易協議都會遇到，那就是所謂的“原產地規則”：如何確定哪些商品真的是在自由貿易區製造的，因此有資格免除關稅，並獲得其他優惠貿易待遇。

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, for example, garments do not just need to be sewn in North America to cross borders without being subject to tariffs; the garments generally need to be made from fabric that was woven in North America, and the fabric itself must be woven from yarn that was made in North America. That rule was written to prevent Mexican manufacturers from buying lots of precut, cheaper fabric from China and elsewhere and assembling it into inexpensive shirts for duty-free shipment to the United States.

例如，根據北美自由貿易協定(North American Free Trade Agreement)的規定，要想免除關稅，服裝類產品不僅需要在北美縫製，通常還需要由北美的布料製成，而這些布料本身必須由北美生產的紗線製成。制定這項規定是爲了防止墨西哥生產商從中國等地方購買大量預先裁剪的便宜布料，再利用這些織物縫製成便宜的成衣，運往美國，而不用交稅。

The Trans-Pacific Partnership includes Vietnam, a large garment-manufacturing nation that relies heavily on fabric imported from China. The negotiations pose the next battleground in a decades-long fight. The American textile industry consistently lobbies for the trade status of garments to be determined by where the material was made, not just where garments were sewn.

TPP談判國中包括越南。這個服裝生產大國嚴重依賴從中國進口的布料。相關談判爲這場長達幾十年的爭鬥開闢了另一個戰場。美國紡織業一直在開展遊說活動，希望服裝的貿易地位由原材料的產地決定，而不僅僅是縫製成衣的地點。

But large retailers and fashion brands want to link the trade status only to where garments are sewn, making it easier to use low-cost Chinese fabrics.

不過，大型零售商和時尚品牌希望這種貿易地位只由成衣產地決定，更易於它們使用成本較低的中國布料。

China’s trade policy analysts are eager to scrutinize the language of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership pact as soon as it is completed and released, to determine how it might actually affect Chinese exporters, Mr. He said.

何偉文表示，這12個國家一達成並公佈TPP協定，中國的貿易政策分析人士就會馬上細讀協定條文，從而判斷實際上它會如何影響中國出口商。