经济学人下载:汇率操纵(1)

The southern shrimp alliance, an industry association based in Florida, is angling for tariffs.
总部位于佛罗里达的一家产业协会—南方养虾联盟正试图征收关税。

It has tried repeatedly to have foreign competitors harpooned with duties. Now some new opportunities have surfaced.
它曾多次试图让外国竞争对手被征收关税。现在一些新的机会出现了。

The Department of Commerce is proposing a rule enabling tariffs on imports from currency manipulators. Crustacean-catchers are keen.
美国商务部提出一项规定，将允许对来自汇率操纵的进口商品征收关税。甲壳动物捕手们很敏锐。

American businesses disgruntled by what they see as distorted exchange rates may soon have more weapons at hand.
美国企业对他们所认为的扭曲的汇率感到不满，他们或许很快便有更多的武器在手。

After weeks of fulmination by President Donald Trump on Twitter about countries
数周以来唐纳德·特朗普总统一直在推特上对那些依靠人为手段

that keep their currencies artificially weak to America's detriment,
让本国货币货币保持弱势且对美国不利的国家表示暴怒，

financial analysts are speculating that the Treasury might use its Exchange Stabilisation Fund (ESF) to weaken the dollar.
此后金融分析师猜测，美国财政部可能会利用其外汇平准基金（ESF）削弱美元。

Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential hopeful, has also called for the dollar to be managed to promote exports,
民主党总统候选人伊丽莎白·沃伦也呼吁管控美元以促进出口，

referring to proposals by Fred Bergsten and Joseph Gagnon of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a think-tank.
她提到了智囊团彼得森国际经济研究所的佛雷德·伯格斯登以及瑟夫·加农的提议。

The chatter is odd in one respect: other countries' currency manipulation does not seem to be the reason for the dollar's strength.
这种喋喋不休在某方面很奇怪：其他国家的汇率操作似乎不是美元强劲的原因。

Although an IMF report published on July 17th said that the dollar was overvalued by 6-12%,
虽然IMF在7月17日发表的报告表明美元被高估了6-12%，

it also said that foreign-exchange intervention had been playing "a much more muted role in recent years".
但报告也指出外汇干预在“近年来发挥的作用要温和得多”。

America's loose fiscal policy—and the tighter stance of countries like Germany and the Netherlands—are more obvious culprits.
美国宽松的财政政策—以及德国和荷兰等国更为强硬的立场—是更明显的罪魁祸首。

However misdirected the current ire, the multilateral system for restraining currency manipulation is indeed toothless.
无论当前的愤怒如何被误导，抑制货币操纵的多边体系确实没有多大作用。

In 2007 the IMF refrained from declaring China a currency cheat,
2007年，IMF并没有宣布中国存在货币欺骗，

although it was running a current-account surplus of 10% of GDP and buying around $2bn in dollar-denominated assets each business day.
虽然其经常账户盈余占GDP的10%，并且每个营业日都会购买约20亿美元的以美元标价的资产。

Preparing for a future bout of competitive devaluation might not be a bad idea.
为未来一轮的竞争性贬值做准备或许并不是一件坏事。

But the proposals floating around Washington would be ripe for abuse.
但围绕华盛顿周围的提议将有可能会被滥用。