奧巴馬爭取貿易推動權遭民主黨內反對

WASHINGTON — President Obama is facing opposition from fellow Democrats to one of his top priorities: winning the power to negotiate international trade agreements and speed them through Congress.

華盛頓——奧巴馬總統在他極爲重要的一項議題上，在民主黨內部遭遇了反對，那就是取得授權從而就國際貿易協定開展談判，並使協議快速在國會得到通過。

As Mr. Obama’s team works privately to line up support for the so-called trade promotion authority, a coalition of Democratic lawmakers and activists from organized labor, environmental, religious and civil rights groups is stepping up efforts to stop him.

奧巴馬的團隊在私下裏努力爲所謂的“貿易推動權”(trade promotion authority)贏得支持，而此時民主黨議員、勞工團體，以及環保、宗教、民權組織正聯合起來，極力阻止奧巴馬。

“Fast track would be yet another insult to the American worker,” Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, said at a Thursday news conference on Capitol Hill, where she predicted the effort’s defeat. “It will not happen. We are not going to do it.”

“批准‘快速通道’(fast-track)會再一次侮辱美國的工作人羣，”康涅狄格州民主黨衆議員羅莎·德勞洛(Rosa DeLauro)週四在國會山舉行的一場新聞發佈會上表示。她預計奧巴馬的提案不會得到國會通過，“這事成不了，我們不會這樣做。”

Winning the authority would allow Mr. Obama to finish and gain swift approval of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a sprawling pact that his administration has been painstakingly negotiating.

贏得這項權力後，奧巴馬就可以結束“跨太平洋夥伴關係”（Trans-Pacific Partnership，簡稱TPP）談判，並迅速使其得到通過。TPP是一個範圍很廣的協定，奧巴馬政府一直在艱難地談判。

But Ms. DeLauro and other Democratic lawmakers argue that the president is asking for carte blanche to secretly negotiate a trade deal that would cost American jobs, weaken food safety and financial regulations and undermine environmental and labor standards.

然而德勞洛和其他民主黨議員認爲，奧巴馬是在索取祕密談判貿易協定的無限權力，這樣會導致美國失去就業崗位、損害食品安全、弱化金融監管、破壞環保和勞工保障的標準。

The dispute pits Mr. Obama against his own party over what the president has identified as one of the few patches of common ground between him and Republicans that could yield an accomplishment during his final two years in office. Its outcome could determine the fate of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a complicated 12-nation agreement that would encompass 40 percent of the world economy and is a crucial element of Mr. Obama’s pivot to Asia. It is also animating an intraparty policy fight among Democrats that could shape the 2016 presidential campaign.

這讓奧巴馬與自己的政黨發生了爭執，奧巴馬認爲這是他與共和黨之間少有的共識之一，可以藉此在他執政的最後兩年取得一些政績。其結果可能會決定TPP的命運，這項複雜的協議涵蓋12個國家，囊括全球經濟總量的40%，在奧巴馬轉向亞洲的戰略中是一個關鍵組成部分。它也在民主黨內部引發了政策之爭，可能會影響2016年的總統大選。

Mr. Obama has dispatched top officials, led by his chief envoy, Michael B. Froman, to Congress to quietly make the case for the agreement and build support for winning the trade authority.

奧巴馬派出了以貿易代表邁克爾·B·弗羅曼(Michael B. Froman)爲首的一些高層官員，到國會低調地替協議辯護，試圖爲拿到貿易權力而贏得支持。

“The president has directed us to be responsive to the very important questions that are being asked by members of Congress,” Thomas E. Perez, the labor secretary, said in an interview. “What’s going on now, I think, is part of the healthy give-and-take that should take place when we’re contemplating an important piece of legislation.”

“總統指示我們，要對國會議員提出的十分重要的問題做出迴應，”勞工部長托馬斯·E·佩雷斯(Thomas E. Perez)在採訪中表示。“我想現在正在開展的事情，是一場有益的討價還價中的一部分，我們在考慮一項重要的立法時，應該開展這樣的討論。”

At the same time, Mr. Obama’s advisers see a ripe opportunity to win approval of his trade agenda given that Congress is fully under the control of Republicans who back trade liberalization.

與此同時，奧巴馬的顧問們認爲，現在爲他的貿易政策贏得支持的時機已經成熟，因爲共和黨已經完全控制國會，而共和黨支持貿易自由化。

Mr. Obama has acknowledged the challenge from his own ranks, saying last month that he must do more to explain how the Trans-Pacific Partnership would help American workers.

奧巴馬承認，自身政黨內部存在挑戰，並於上個月表示他必須做出更多努力，解釋TPP能怎樣幫助美國的工作人羣。

Lori Wallach, the director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, said presidential efforts to secure the trade power had met with hostility from Congress since the adoption of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement and the creation of the World Trade Organization. Those are the product of a collaboration of another Republican Congress and a Democratic president, Bill Clinton.

公衆公民(Public Citizen)旗下的全球貿易觀察項目(Global Trade Watch)主任洛麗·沃勒克(Lori Wallach)表示，總統取得貿易權力的努力，從《北美自由貿易協定》(North American Free Trade Agreement)在1994年生效、世界貿易組織(World Trade Organization)成立以來，就面臨了國會的敵意。這兩項舉措也是共和黨國會和民主黨總統比爾·克林頓(Bill Clinton)聯手的產物。

Those measures “woke up Congress about what ‘fast track’ means,” she said in an interview, and ever since “it’s really hard to get them to delegate that authority.” She noted that in the 21 years since those deals were approved, Congress has awarded trade promotion authority to a president for a total of only five years.

這兩個事件“讓國會對‘快速通道’意味着什麼產生了警覺，”沃勒克在一次採訪中說，從那以來，“就很難讓他們把這項權力交給別人。”她提到，那兩項貿易協定得到通過以來的21年裏，國會只向一位總統授予了總共五年的貿易推動權。

“For Obama, it’s particularly tricky, because that big power grab would be used for this agreement that is basically a Trojan horse for every kind of extreme corporate proposal that could not get passed in the sunshine of public debate,” she said.

她說，“對奧巴馬來說，這尤其棘手，因爲如此大舉攫取權力，針對的卻是這個協議。而它基本上是一個特洛伊木馬，滿足了企業提出的每一種極端的要求，這些要求在公共辯論的眼光下根本不會得到通過。”

The White House rejects the characterization, arguing that the Trans-Pacific Partnership would raise standards across the board. Mr. Perez said officials were incorporating lawmakers’ concerns about important elements of the agreement — like the need for stronger and quicker enforcement measures — into the continuing international negotiations.

白宮否認這種說法，辯稱TPP可以全面提高標準。佩雷斯表示，官員們正在將國會議員對協議中重要部分的顧慮——包括需要建立更強、更迅速的執法機制——納入仍在進行的國際談判中。

“The guidance from the president has been very clear: I want the best agreement that’s going to protect American workers, provide decent hours and wages, and address both environment and labor conditions,” Mr. Perez said.

佩雷斯說，“總統的指示十分明確：我想得到一個最好的協議，要能保護美國工作者的利益，提供體面的工時和薪水，並應對環保和勞動條件的問題。”

Republicans and centrist Democrats strongly support Mr. Obama’s trade agenda. But given the bitter partisan divisions in Washington and Mr. Obama’s aggressive use of executive action in recent months, it is unclear how unified Republicans will be in support of his trade initiatives.

共和黨和民主黨中間派強烈支持奧巴馬的貿易政策。然而鑑於華盛頓存在尖銳的黨派分歧，並且奧巴馬近幾個月來大舉運用行政權力，尚不清楚共和黨能在多大程度上聯合起來支持他在貿易方面的舉措。

“This is the rare issue in which he’s going to have more problems with the Democrats than with the Republicans because he is working against the wishes of key elements of the Democratic coalition,” said David Karol, an associate professor at the University of Maryland who studies trade policy. “But some Republicans also just don’t want to give President Obama a victory, period, no matter how much they may like the policy.”

“這是一個奧巴馬與民主黨產生的問題會比共和黨多的罕見問題，因爲他的舉動與民主黨陣營中一些關鍵派系的願望相違背，”馬里蘭大學(University of Maryland)研究貿易政策的副教授戴維·卡羅爾(David Karol)表示。“然而一些共和黨人卻又不想把勝利送給奧巴馬總統，沒門兒，無論他們多喜歡這項政策。”

At the same time, business groups that are highly motivated to win approval of the new agreements are pressing Mr. Obama to take a more active role in selling his trade policies in Congress. “He’s going to need to really step out a lot more and make the case for why this is important,” said Christopher Wenk, senior director of international policy at the United States Chamber of Commerce. “There are a lot of Democrats who want to be helpful on this, but they’re waiting for the president to be out there leading — they need some cover.”

與此同時，很有動力爲新的協議贏得批准的商業團體，正在向奧巴馬施壓，要求他扮演更積極的角色，在國會裏推銷他的貿易政策。“他需要真的邁出大得多的步子，闡明爲什麼這個協議很重要，”美國商會(United States Chamber of Commerce)國際政策高級總監克里斯托弗·溫克(Christopher Wenk)表示。“有很多民主黨人願意在這件事上幫忙，但是他們還在等待總統打頭陣，他們需要一些掩護。”