美国保护主义立场引发德国经济恐慌

President Donald Trump’s trade threats aren’t only hurting feelings in Germany. They are beginning to weigh on the country’s economy.

美国总统特朗普不断发出贸易威胁，不仅对德国的经济景气状况构成打击，也开始给该国的经济活动造成压力。

The European Union’s largest economy, whose export-oriented vigor has kept the continent afloat for more than a decade, is cooling more rapidly than expected in what economists see as the early fallout from protectionist moves by the U.S.

德国经济目前遇冷，增长放缓速度超过预期，经济学家认为，这是美国保护主义政策后果的初步显现。过去十多年，做为欧盟第一大经济体，德国依靠出口保持经济活力，一直是欧洲经济增长的支柱。

The slowdown comes just as Europe has been gradually emerging from the economic hangover caused by the continent’s debt crisis in 2010.

在德国经济放缓之际，欧洲已开始逐步摆脱2010年欧元区债务危机对该地区经济的影响。

After years of robust growth fueled by foreign demand for premium cars and engineering goods, Germany saw its annualized growth rate roughly fall by half in the first quarter of 2018. Exports have fallen in three of the first four months of the year, manufacturing orders are down and sentiment indicators are in free fall.

多年来，豪车和机械设备海外需求拉动德国经济取得强劲增长，但是2018年第一季度，该国经济年化增长率下跌近半。今年前四个月有三个月出口下滑，制造业订单减少，多项经济景气指标骤降。

The weakness can’t be blamed on the U.S. president’s “America First” policies alone. A cold winter and a bad flu epidemic appear to have slackened growth earlier this year. But the bad news has been so persistent since then that economists are now looking for other explanations.

德国经济疲弱不能只怪美国总统特朗普的“美国优先”政策。今年年初的增长放缓，似乎也与冬季气候严寒和流感大爆发有关。但是自那时起坏消息频出，令经济学家开始寻求其他解释。

“It’s clear that concerns over protectionism and the more assertive foreign-policy stance of the U.S. have begun to have real economic implications,” said Oliver Rakau, a Frankfurt-based economist with Oxford Economics.

牛津经济研究院(Oxford Economics)驻法兰克福经济学家Oliver Rakau称：“很明显，保护主义和美国外交政策立场更趋强硬所引发的担忧已经开始给经济带来实实在在的影响。”

Because Germany is so dependent on international trade, economists argue, the protectionist war cries coming from the White House are having a chilling effect even in the absence of a fully fledged trade war, damping both sentiment and actual economic activity.

经济学家认为，由于德国经济非常依赖国际贸易，因此，即便贸易战并未全面爆发，但美国出于保护主义的贸易战言论已经造成负面效应，不仅令两国情绪受挫，也影响了实际的经济活动。

Germany’s economics ministry on Wednesday warned the trade dispute was causing some businesses to take a “wait-and-see position” concerning investments.

德国经济部周三警告称，贸易纷争已导致某些企业在考虑投资项目时采取观望态度。