经济学人下载:北美贸易:不公平的比赛(1)

For years President Donald Trump has been itching to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA),
几年来，唐纳德·特朗普总统一直想要退出北美自由贸易协定（NAFTA），

a trade deal between America, Canada and Mexico. But as long as negotiations about a revamp continued, he held off.
这是一项美国、加拿大和墨西哥之间的贸易协议。但是只要关于修改协议的谈判还在继续，他就会回避。

The day after signing a new deal on November 30th, rebranded the USMCA,
11月30日，签署完一份新协议后（新协议更名为USMCA），

he announced that he would "shortly" indulge himself and terminate the original deal after all.
他宣布他将“立刻”纵容自己并终止原协议。

That would force Congress to choose between the USMCA and a NAFTA-less world.
这将迫使国会在USMCA以及无NAFTA协议这两个局面中做选择。

"If Trump's new NAFTA is so great, why does he need to resort to brinkmanship to ram it through Congress?" asked Ron Wyden, a Democratic senator.
“如果特朗普的新NAFTA协议真的那么好，那为什么他需要借助边缘政策迫使国会接受呢？”民主党参议员罗恩·维登问道。

The answer is that many do not think the new deal is so great. The AFL-CIO, a union of unions, calls it incomplete.
答案是很多人认为他的新协议并没有那么好。工会组织美国劳工联合会-产业工会联合会（AFL-CIO）称该协议残缺不全。

Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader in Congress and probably the next speaker, says it is a "work in progress".
国会少数党领袖南希·佩洛西兼下一任议长表示该协议“还在进程之中”。

Some Republicans express misgivings. Mr Trump wants to silence such voices.
一些共和党人表示疑虑。特朗普希望平息这些议论。

If this plan fails, and the Democrat-dominated House votes down the USMCA next year, it may be in part to deny Mr Trump a foreign-policy success.
如果该计划失败并且民主党主导的众议院明年投票否决USMCA，那么这或许是否认特朗普外交政策成功的一部分。

But Democrats also have substantive complaints.
但是民主党人也有很多不满。

The biggest is that, though the labour standards in the new pact are tougher than in the old version
最大的抱怨是，虽然新协议中的劳工标准比旧版本更加严格

(or than in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, which was negotiated under Barack Obama and dumped by Mr Trump),
（或是比跨太平洋伙伴关系协定（TPP）中的标准更加严格，TPP是在巴拉克·奥巴马执政期间协定并被特朗普抛弃），

many regard the enforcement provisions as too weak.
很多人认为强制性条款太过脆弱。

Older trade deals involving America allow any member that thinks another is breaking the terms to launch an official dispute.
美国参与的旧贸易协议允许任何认为另一方违反了协议条款的成员发起一场官方争端。

Once various procedural hoops have been jumped through, the parties pick five from a roster of judges, who decide whether there has been wrongdoing.
一旦跨过了程序上的层层关卡，各方会从一份法官名册上挑选5名判决贸易中是否存在不当行为。