纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英报复性调查中国威胁对欧洲进口猪肉征收关税

China on Monday threatened to impose tariffs on pork imports from Europe, in what appeared to be retaliation for the European Union’s decision last week to impose preliminary tariffs on electric cars imported from China.

中国周一威胁要对欧洲进口猪肉征收关税，这似乎是对欧盟上周决定对中国出口电动汽车征收初步关税的报复。

China’s Ministry of Commerce announced that it had opened an investigation into whether pork from the European Union was being dumped in China at unfairly low prices. The case could result in tariffs on dozens of products, from pork chops to pickled pig intestines.

中国商务部宣布，已开始调查欧盟国家的猪肉是否以不公平的低价倾销到中国。此案可能导致对从猪排到腌猪肠等数十种产品征收关税。

The ministry said it was acting in response to an application from the China Animal Agriculture Association, a government-affiliated group, and released a copy of the request. The association accused the European pork industry of benefiting from inappropriate government subsidies as it suffered from overcapacity — the same accusations that European and American officials have leveled against China’s car industry.<

商务部表示，此举是应政府下属机构中国畜牧业协会的申请而采取的，并公布了申请书的副本。该协会指责欧洲猪肉行业因产能过剩而受益于政府的不适当补贴——欧洲和美国官员也对中国汽车行业提出了同样的指责。

Olof Gill, a spokesman for the European Commission, said in a statement that the European Union’s executive arm was analyzing China’s action and would “follow the proceeding very closely in coordination with E.U. industry and member states, and intervene as appropriate to ensure that the investigation fully complies with relevant” World Trade Organization rules.

欧盟委员会发言人奥洛夫·吉尔在一份声明中表示，欧盟执行机构正在分析中国的行动，并将“密切关注进展，并与欧盟产业和成员国协调，采取适当介入措施，确保调查完全符合”世界贸易组织的“相关”规则。

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, a business group, said in a statement that China’s action was not a surprise after the European Union’s recent electric vehicle tariffs. The chamber added that it “encourages both sides to take action to depoliticize the business environment and find ways to address the underlying causes.”

商业团体中国欧盟商会在一份声明中表示，在欧盟最近对电动汽车征收关税后，中国的行动并不令人意外。该商会还表示，“鼓励双方采取行动，使商业环境去政治化，并找到解决深层原因的方法。”

The E.V. tariffs have been a divisive issue in Europe. Labor unions and European auto parts producers have been worried about job losses as China’s electric car exports to the continent rise quickly. But European automakers like Volkswagen have been expanding electric car production in China and shifting their purchasing from Europe to low-cost Chinese suppliers. They have been wary that trade frictions may prompt China to target imports of luxury cars from Europe next.

对电动汽车征收关税在欧洲一直是一个存在分歧的问题。工会和欧洲汽车零部件生产商担心中国对欧洲的电动汽车出口迅速增长将导致失业问题。但大众等欧洲汽车制造商一直在扩大在中国的电动汽车生产，并将采购从欧洲转移到低成本的中国供应商。他们一直担心贸易摩擦可能会促使中国对从欧洲进口的豪华汽车采取行动。

By choosing pork imports as the apparent payback for the electric vehicle tariffs, China is turning to a playbook it followed during its last major trade fight with the European Union over a decade ago.

选择进口猪肉作为对电动汽车关税的明显报复手段，中国正在重拾十多年前与欧盟进行上一次重大贸易争端时的做法。

In 2013, the European Union moved to impose 11.8 percent tariffs on solar panels from China. China responded by threatening tariffs on wine from Europe and then launched a successful campaign to persuade national governments in Europe to force E.U. leaders in Brussels to back down.

2013年，欧盟对来自中国的太阳能电池板征收了11.8%的关税。作为回应，中国威胁对来自欧洲的葡萄酒征收关税，随后又成功说服欧洲各国政府，迫使布鲁塞尔的欧盟领导人做出让步。

Farmers are a potent political lobby in Europe who have been looking for ways to increase sales to China. Experts in China’s trade policy said Beijing might be hoping to pressure the European Union to back down again.

在欧洲，农民是一个强大的政治游说群体，他们一直在寻找增加对华销售的途径。中国贸易政策专家表示，中国政府可能希望向欧盟施压，迫使其再次让步。

In addition to the pork trade case, the Ministry of Commerce already began in January a case against imports of Cognac and other European wine-based spirits that come mainly from France. The French government has been an early supporter of tariffs on electric cars from China, following allegations that China has heavily subsidized the industry.

除猪肉贸易案外，商务部已于今年1月开始对主要来自法国的干邑白兰地和其他欧洲葡萄酒烈酒的进口立案调查。法国是最早支持对中国电动车征税的国家之一，理由是有指控称，中国对电动汽车行业进行了大量补贴。

It’s not clear China will succeed in stopping the European Union’s electric vehicle tariffs. Chinese imports of solar panels decimated Europe’s solar panel manufacturing industry after the union rescinded its tariffs. European governments are still looking for ways to revive the industry. Few in Europe want electric car production to suffer a similar fate.

目前尚不清楚中国能否成功阻止欧盟对电动汽车征收关税。在欧盟取消关税后，中国进口的太阳能电池板使欧洲的太阳能电池板制造业遭受重创。欧洲各国政府仍在寻找振兴该行业的方法。欧洲人不希望电动汽车行业遭受类似的命运。

China also has a huge overall trade surplus with Europe. In recent months, China has sent four shipping containers’ worth of exports to Europe for each container of imports that comes the other way.

中国对欧洲的总体贸易顺差也很大。近几个月来，每从欧洲进口一个集装箱的进口商品，中国就向欧洲发出了四个集装箱的出口商品。

For China’s part, tariffs on pork could help protect an important industry from international competition. Pork prices fell 14 percent last year, as the country’s pig farmers expanded their herds. Prices have begun to recover in the past month but are still half of what they were three to five years ago, when an epidemic of African swine fever killed much of China’s herd.

就中国而言，对猪肉征收关税有助于保护这一重要产业免受国际竞争的影响。去年，随着中国养猪户扩大养猪规模，猪肉价格下跌了14%。上个月猪肉价格开始回升，但仍只有三五年前的一半，当时一场非洲猪瘟疫情导致中国的生猪存栏量大幅减少。

China is by far the world’s largest market for pork, a dietary staple. Average consumption per person in some provinces, like Hunan, reaches nearly a quarter-pound of pork a day.

中国是迄今为止全球最大的猪肉市场，猪肉是人们主要的肉食。在湖南等一些省份，人均每天消费近四分之一磅猪肉。

China has yet to retaliate over the Biden administration’s decision in early May to raise American tariffs on electric cars, lithium batteries and other products from China. China has criticized the U.S. tariffs, but has refrained from the rapid escalation in retaliatory tariffs that it pursued during the Trump administration. That approach in 2018 and 2019 ended up backfiring for Beijing. The Trump administration quickly broadened its tariffs, many of which have stayed in place ever since.

拜登政府于5月初决定提高中国电动汽车、锂电池和其他产品的关税，但中国尚未对此采取报复行动。中国对美国的关税提出了批评，但没有像在特朗普政府时期那样迅速升级事态、征收报复性关税。这种做法在2018年和2019年对中国造成了适得其反的效果。特朗普政府迅速扩大了关税范围，其中许多关税一直持续至今。

Beijing imports fairly little from the United States after years of government-led efforts to reduce dependence on imports, so it has had limited options for broad retaliation.

中国政府多年来一直在努力减少对进口的依赖，北京从美国进口的商品较少。因此，中国采取广泛报复的选择有限。