经济学人下载:全球贸易:世界末日(2)

America has had some wins at the WTO: against the European Union for subsidies to Airbus, an aircraft-maker;
美国已经在WTO取得了一些胜利：反对欧盟对飞机制造商空客的补贴；

and against China for its domestic subsidies; theft of intellectual property; controls on the export of rare earths,
以及反对中国的国内补贴；盗窃知识产权；对稀土出口的控制

which are used to make mobile phones; and even its tariffs on American chicken feet.
（用于移动手机制造）；甚至是对美国鸡爪征收关税。

But it has also been dragged before the appellate body repeatedly,
但它也多次被上诉机构提起诉讼，

in particular by countries objecting to its heavy-handed use of "trade remedies": tariffs supposed to defend its producers from unfair imports.
尤其是那些反对它滥用“贸易救济”的国家：关税本应保护其生产者免受不公平进口的伤害。

Time after time, it has lost. In such cases, it has generally sought to become compliant with the rules rather than buy the complainant off.
它一次又一次的失败了。在这种情况下，它通常会寻求遵守规则，而不是收买投诉人。

Though previous administrations had grumbled, and occasionally intervened in judges' appointments, the Trump administration went further.
尽管前几届政府怨声载道，并偶尔干涉法官的任命，但特朗普政府则更甚。

Its officials complained that disputes often dragged on much longer than the supposed maximum of 90 days,
其官员抱怨称，争端经常拖得比预期最长的90天还要长，

and—more seriously—that the appellate body made rulings that went beyond what WTO members had signed up to.
更严重的是，上诉机构做出的裁决超出了WTO成员签署的范围。

They made it clear that unless such concerns were dealt with, no new judges would be confirmed.
他们明确表示，除非解决这些问题，否则不会确认新法官。

Judicial overreach is in the eye of the beholder. Losers will always feel hard done by,
每个人对司法越权的定义都不一样。败诉方总觉得受到了不公正的对待，

and America has been quick to celebrate the WTO's rulings when it wins.
并且当美国获胜时，它很快就开始庆祝WTO的裁决。

But plenty of others think that the appellate body had overstepped its remit.
但是很多人认为上诉机构已经超出了它的职权范围。

A recent survey of individuals engaged with the WTO, including national representatives, found that 58% agreed with that verdict.
近期对包括国家代表在内的WTO工作人员的调查发现，58%的人同意它的裁决。

Getting so many countries to sign up to the WTO was a remarkable achievement.
让这么多国家加入WTO是一个了不起的成就。

One way negotiators managed this was by leaving the rules vague, and papering over their differences with ambiguous language.
谈判者解决这个问题的方法之一是模糊规则，并用模棱两可的语言掩盖他们之间的分歧。

Take "zeroing", for example: using dubious mathematics to calculate defensive tariffs on unfairly traded imports.
例如“归零”：使用可疑的数学计算不公平贸易进口的防御关税。

The Americans claim that the rules do not say they cannot do it. But others counter that the rules do not say they can.
美国人声称，规则并没有规定他们不能这么做。但另一些人反驳说，规则也并没有说他们可以这么做。

It is such long-running differences that have set the scene for the latest showdown.
正是这种长期存在的分歧为最近的对决埋下了伏笔。