特朗普轉向 美願重啓TTIP談判

Donald Trump’s top trade official has opened the door to reviving trade negotiations with the EU but warned the bloc it will be in competition with China and Japan to show willingness to do the first deal with the new US administration.

美國總統唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)的最高貿易官員開啓了與歐盟(EU)恢復貿易談判的大門，但警告歐盟：它需要與中國和日本展開競爭，以證明自己願意首先與特朗普政府達成協議。

Wilbur Ross, US commerce secretary, said the need to cut the US’s $146bn transatlantic trade deficit in goods was one of his priorities. The deficit is second only to the $347bn one with China.

美國商務部長威爾伯?羅斯(Wilbur Ross)表示，美國需要降低1460億美元的對歐貨物貿易赤字，這是他的優先事項之一。這個數字僅次於3470億美元的美國對華貨物貿易赤字。

The billionaire investor is due to host Cecilia Malmstr?m, EU trade commissioner, in Washington today for their first meeting to discuss how to proceed with talks over a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) launched under the Obama administration. Those talks started in 2013 but stalled last year amid intense political opposition in the EU and last June’s vote by the UK to leave the bloc.

這位億萬富豪投資者週一將在華盛頓迎接歐盟貿易專員塞西莉亞?馬姆斯特羅姆(Cecilia Malmstr?m)，舉行兩人之間的首次會晤，討論如何推進之前由奧巴馬(Obama)政府啓動的《跨大西洋貿易與投資夥伴關係協定》(TTIP)談判。TTIP談判在2013年就已開始，但由於遭到歐盟內部的激烈政治反對和去年6月英國公投退歐，談判去年陷入停滯。

“The three big [economies] that are the sources of our trade deficit outside of [the North American Free Trade Agreement] are China, Japan and Europe. So it is logical that?.?.?.?one should focus on Europe,” Mr Ross said.

“在《北美自由貿易協定》(NAFTA)以外，給我們造成最大貿易逆差的三大（經濟體）是中國、日本和歐洲。所以合乎邏輯的是……我們應該關注歐洲，”羅斯說。

The move marks a shift in tone by the Trump administration, which had been pushing to strike bilateral deals with EU members such as Germany, despite not being allowed to under EU rules.

此舉標誌着特朗普政府的口風轉變，此前特朗普政府一直在推動與德國等個別的歐盟成員國達成雙邊協定，儘管依據歐盟規則不能這麼做。

But US officials caution that the meeting is unlikely to lead to a rapid resumption of talks with Brussels because of the German election in September. Just as a Trump plan to pursue a bilateral deal with the UK was put on hold because of Brexit, they warn, Washington has doubts about the EU’s “bandwidth” as it focuses on its talks with London.

但美國官員告誡稱，由於德國將在9月舉行大選，這次會晤不太可能導致華盛頓與布魯塞爾迅速恢復談判。他們警告稱，就像特朗普致力於與英國達成雙邊協定的計劃因爲英國退歐而被擱置，美國對歐盟在專注於其與英國談判之際的“帶寬”感到疑慮。

EU officials are similarly cautious about resuming talks with the US that would probably be difficult and draw public opposition in Europe, where Mr Trump is unpopular. “Before taking a decision on how to proceed, we would need to clarify that there is a sufficient level of shared ambition and common ground in finding solutions to difficult issues,” said a commission spokesman.

歐盟官員同樣對恢復歐美貿易談判感到謹慎。恢復談判將很可能是困難的，並在特朗普不受歡迎的歐洲招致公衆反對。歐盟委員會一名發言人說：“在就如何推進作出決定之前，我們需要澄清一點，那就是在尋求針對困難問題的解決方案上，雙方有足夠大的共同抱負和共同點。”

Mr Ross said that despite portrayals of the administration as a protectionist force in the global economy, it was intent on pursuing trade deals with major US economic partners. Although one of Mr Trump’s first acts was to pull the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership with Japan and 10 other nations, he had deci-ded not to do the same with TTIP.

羅斯表示，儘管特朗普政府被很多人描繪成全球經濟中的一支保護主義力量，但它有意爭取與美國的主要經濟夥伴達成貿易協議。雖然特朗普的首批行動之一是讓美國撤出與日本和其他10個國家達成的《跨太平洋夥伴關係協定》(TPP)，但他已決定不撤出TTIP。