经济学人下载:贸易协定,多少有些进展

The deal is a fragile one. Republicans have been clamouring to ratify the trade pacts, but not necessarily with TAA attached. Serious fraying has occurred of the consensus that trade liberalisation’s benefits for the many should be coupled with aid for the few. John Kennedy signed TAA into law in 1962 as part of the inauguration of global trade negotiations so that “those injured by that competition should not be required to bear the full brunt of the impact.”

但这项协议的基础却不够牢靠，共和党人已经在大声疾呼要求在通过这几项贸易协定同时不应强行附带贸易适应援助（TAA）。在实行自由贸易给广大民众带来益处的同时对少数人给予补贴曾经是两党的共识，但是这一次却在这个问题上产生了严重了分歧。约翰．肯尼迪（John Kennedy）在1962年将贸易适应援助（TAA）写入了法律，成为拉开全球贸易谈判序幕的一部分 ，目的在于“保证在引入竞争之后，不能要求一些人首当其冲承受由于竞争导致的利益受损。”

Eligibility for TAA has been expanded several times; by 2010 it went to 234,949 people. Howard Rosen, a proponent of TAA and a scholar at the Peterson Institute, notes that key Republicans, including Mr Camp, supported its last expansion in 2009. (That expansion has expired, and the latest deal would restore it.) Mr Camp still supports TAA, but many of his fellow Republicans consider it just a waste of money.

符合贸易适应援助（TAA）的人数范围已经被扩大了几次，截止2010年，已经有23.4949万人有资格享受到该援助。作为贸易适应援助(TAA)的拥护者，Howard Rosen这位皮特森学院（Peterson Institue）的学者指出，共和党的重要成员包括Camp先生在内都支持该援助在2009年实行的最后一次扩编行为（这次扩编已经被中止了，而在最近的这项协议中决定恢复该项政策）Camp先生仍旧支持实行贸易适应援助，但是他的许多共和党同僚则认为该援助是在浪费金钱。

If Republicans strip TAA from the deal, Mr Obama may abandon the trade deals altogether. That might destroy the prospect of any trade liberalisation during his presidency. But many Americans won’t care. Pew, a pollster, finds that 44% of them, a plurality, think trade agreements are bad for America, the highest percentage in 13 years.

如果共和党人将贸易适应援助（TAA）从该项协议删去的话，奥巴马可能会反对所有的贸易协定。这样可能会使得在其总统任期内实施任何贸易自由化都成为了不可能。但是许多美国人却对此并不在意，一位叫做Pew的民意调查员调查发现许多美国人认为贸易协议对于美国没有好处，这一占比达到了44%，为过去13年以来的最高值。