贸易战暂时不打了,但中美贸易前景仍不明朗

WASHINGTON — China will increase its purchase of American goods and services in order to reduce the multibillion-dollar trade imbalance with the United States, the two countries said in a joint statement Saturday.
华盛顿——中美两国在周六的联合声明中表示，中国将购买更多美国商品和服务，以减少与美国数千亿美元的贸易不平衡。

How much the imbalance will be reduced remains to be seen.
这种不平衡会减少多少还有待观察。

Trump administration officials had said during negotiations this week that China was prepared to make up to $200 billion in additional purchases. Notably absent from Saturday’s announcement were any dollar figures — or a sense of the scale of the agreed-upon increases.
在本周的谈判期间，特朗普政府的官员称中国准备多购买2000亿美元（约合1.3万亿元人民币）的商品和服务。值得注意的是，周六的声明中没有出现任何金额——或是商定的增加规模。

The White House said that China had committed to buying more agriculture and energy exports, but noted that American officials would at some point go to China to work out the details of their agreement.
白宫称，中国承诺购买更多农业和能源出口商品，但同时指出美国官员将在某个时候前往中国，制定协议细节。

“To meet the growing consumption needs of the Chinese people and the need for high-quality economic development, China will significantly increase purchases of United States goods and services,” said the statement. “This will help support growth and employment in the United States.”
“为满足中国人民不断增长的消费需求和促进高质量经济发展，中方将大量增加自美购买商品和服务，”声明写道。“这将有助于支持美国的增长和就业。”

The Trump administration has taken a hard line against China since the president took office, and the United States has made a series of moves focused on trade, including threatening tariffs on Chinese products and restrictions on Chinese investment flowing into the country. Among the claims that the United States has made is that Beijing has unfairly stolen intellectual property, especially as China pushes ahead in developing the next generation of wireless technology known as 5G.
自特朗普总统上台以来，政府对中国立场强硬。美国以贸易为重点采取了一系列措施，包括威胁对中国的产品征收关税和限制中国的投资流入中国。美国提出的说法之一是北京不公平地窃取知识产权，尤其是在中国大力发展下一代无线技术5G的时候。

Recently, both countries have shown a willingness to compromise to reduce trade tensions, and Chinese officials came to Washington this week for a series of talks with various cabinet officials, including Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
最近，两国都表现出愿意做出让步，以缓和贸易紧张关系。本周，中方官员来到华盛顿，与包括财政部长史蒂文·努钦(Steven Mnuchin)在内的多名内阁官员举行了一系列会谈。

The announcement Saturday made no reference to whether the Trump administration would walk away from tariffs imposed this year on roughly $50 billion of Chinese imports. But Liu He, an economic adviser who led the negotiations for China, suggested that both sides would stop recently imposed tariffs, according to China’s Xinhua News Agency.
周六的声明没有提到特朗普政府是否会取消今年对大约500亿美元的中国进口商品征收关税。但据中国的新华社 (Xinhua News Agency)报道，领导中方谈判的经济顾问刘鹤表示，双方将停止征收最近实施的关税。

Scott Paul, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, an industry group, said that judging from the announcement, the talks didn’t appear to have moved American businesses toward a level playing field in China.
行业组织美国制造业联盟(Alliance for American Manufacturing)主席斯科特·保罗(Scott Paul)说，从声明来看，谈判似乎未能让美国企业在中国获得公平的竞争环境。

“Sometimes it’s better to walk away from the negotiating table to reinforce the point to China that our resolve is strong,” he said. “We need more details, but I’m not encouraged by the direction these talks are headed.”
“有时候，最好是离开谈判桌，向中国强调一点，我们决心坚定，”他说。“我们需要更多细节，但这些谈判的方向没有让我感到鼓舞。”

As the negotiations this week wound down, mixed signals emerged about the progress the two sides had made.
随着本周的谈判结束，有关双方所获进展的信号有喜有忧。

“They are meeting many of our demands,” Larry Kudlow, director of the National Economic Council, told reporters Friday as he discussed the possibility of “at least $200 billion” in additional purchases.
“他们会满足我们的很多要求，”国家经济委员会(National Economic Council)主席拉里·库德洛(Larry Kudlow)上周五对记者说。他谈到了中国多购买“至少2000亿美元”商品的可能性。

Chinese media contested the concessions. The Foreign Ministry denied Friday that it had offered to reduce its trade deficit with the United States by the $200 billion amount, and on Saturday the state-run People’s Daily, considered a mouthpiece for the Chinese government, called the reports “a misunderstanding.” The trade deficit with China reached $375.2 billion last year.
中国媒体对这些让步提出了异议。周五，外交部否认中国已经提出要削减2000亿美元规模的美国对华逆差，并且周六，官方媒体、被视为中国政府喉舌的《人民日报》将这些报道称为“误解”。去年，美国对华贸易逆差达到了3752亿美元。

American officials have clashed in recent days over what to offer Beijing in return for increasing its purchases of American goods and services.
近几天，关于该向北京提供些什么，以换取中国增加对美国商品和服务的购买，美国官员内部起了冲突。

One issue is whether the United States should relax so-called export controls on certain products and technology, according to two people who were familiar with the negotiations but were not authorized to speak publicly about them. The controls determine where — and in what quantity — products with military applications or advanced technologies, like semiconductors that power smartphones and computers, can be exported to other countries.
据两名熟悉谈判但没有获得公开谈论此事授权的人士表示，一个问题在于，美国是否应当放宽对特定商品及技术的所谓“出口管制”。管制措施决定着能够应用于军事或尖端技术的商品——比如能够为智能手机和计算机提供动力的半导体——出口到他国的地点和规模。

Mr. Mnuchin, who has been leading the negotiations, has pushed for relaxing the rules in order to forestall the possibility of a trade war and secure China’s purchase of additional goods from the United States in the coming years. Mr. Mnuchin’s plan has faced stiff opposition from Defense Department officials, who fear such sales could compromise American national security, one of the people said.
一直牵头谈判的努钦在推动放宽这些法规，以预先阻止可能会发生的贸易战，并且保证中国在未来几年会从美国购买额外的商品。努钦的计划面临着来自国防部官员的坚决反对，他们担忧这样的商品出售可能会破坏美国国家安全，其中一人表示。

The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the Treasury Department.
国防部和财政部均没有立即回应置评的请求。

Another point of contention has been whether to offer relief for ZTE, a Chinese telecom firm. The Trump administration penalized ZTE for violating American sanctions against North Korea and Iran, steps that have effectively shuttered the company’s business and put tens of thousands of Chinese jobs at risk.
另一个存在争议的点在于是否放松对中国电信公司中兴的制裁。特朗普政府因中兴违反了美国针对朝鲜和伊朗的制裁措施而予以处罚，这些举措导致该公司业务关闭，危及数以万计的中国工作。

After taking a tough stance on China in recent months, President Trump has appeared open to relaxing penalties against ZTE, posting to Twitter last weekend that too many jobs had been lost.
在近几个月来对中国采取强硬态度后，特朗普总统已经似乎对放松针对中兴的惩罚持开放态度。上周，他在Twitter上发文表示中国已经失去了太多工作。

The comments provoked a sharp backlash from hard-liners within the administration and lawmakers across the political spectrum, who saw concessions to the Chinese on ZTE as infringing on the rule of law and potentially endangering national security.
这些评论引发了政府内部强硬派和政治各界议员的强烈反弹，他们认为在中兴一事上对中国让步是破坏法治，可能还会危及国家安全。

Any breaks offered by the United States could backfire with economic nationalists, who have viewed the imposition of tariffs and investment restrictions against China as the fulfillment of one of Mr. Trump’s core campaign promises.
任何美国提出的放宽措施可能都会在经济民族主义者那里遭到抵制，他们把对中国加征关税及设立投资限制视为特朗普兑现其核心竞选承诺的一个举动。

“It’s imperative that we do not back off one iota, and certainly not for more happy talk about continuing dialogue,” said Stephen K. Bannon, the president’s former chief strategist.
“我们一定要寸步不让，而且当然不能为了更多愉快地讨论继续对话而让步，”总统的前首席战略师史蒂芬·K·班农(Stephen K. Bannon)表示。