又中又英 | A reciprocal tariff | 褚简宁

　　Shock, disbelief, and stock market crashes swept across the world like a tsunami after US President Donald Trump decided to impose trade tariffs on almost every country. Trump imposed a global 10 percent reciprocal tariff but added different levels of additional tariffs on most countries depending on their trade surpluses with the US. The word “reciprocal” describes something that is the same on both sides. It is reciprocal when country A allows visa-free entry to the citizens of country B and country B does the same for country A.

　　A reciprocal tariff means country A will charge the same tariff that country B charges country A. Trump’s 10 percent reciprocal tariff is not exactly reciprocal but meant as a starting point because he said most countries charge higher than a 10 percent tariff for US goods entering their countries. That’s why he imposed additional tariffs in addition to the 10 percent. Critics of Trump’s tariffs agree many countries have treated the US unfairly by charging higher tariffs than the US charges them. But they said Trump’s global trade war is like burning down the house to cook a steak.

　　The expression“burn down the house to cook a steak” means taking extreme measures to solve a problem that can be solved by less extreme ways. They say Trump should negotiate with other countries instead of starting a global trade war. Some economists warn the trade war could cause stagflation.  The word “stagflation” describes an economic situation where a country has very slow growth, high unemployment, and increasing prices, known as inflation, all at the same time.

　　当美国总统唐纳德．特朗普决定向差不多所有国家征收关税后，震惊、不信，以及股市暴跌像海啸般席卷全球。特朗普征收一个全球性的百分之十对等关税（reciprocal tariff），但对大部分国家实施不同程度的额外关税，视乎他们跟美国有多少贸易顺差。Reciprocal一字是用来形容两边相互、对等的情况；当甲国容许乙国的公民可以免签证入境，而乙国同样实施这样的宽限给甲国，这就是reciprocal。

　　A reciprocal tariff是指甲国向乙国征收的关税与乙国向甲国所征收的是一样的。特朗普的百分之十对等关税（reciprocal tariff）并不完全对等（reciprocal），但标示着一个开始，因为他说大部分国家向美国入口货品征收高于百分之十的关税，因此他在百分之十以外再征收额外关税。批评特朗普关税的人都同意，许多国家对待美国不公，向美国收取的关税比美国向其征收的为高；但他们说，特朗普的全球贸易战就像为了煮一块牛扒而烧掉整间屋（burning down the house to cook a steak）。

　　习语burning down the house to cook a steak是指用极端的措施去解决问题，但其实本可用不那么偏激的手法去解决的。他们说，特朗普应该跟其他国家协商，而不是发动全球贸易战。一些经济学家警告指，贸易战可能引致stagflation—stagflation是形容停滞型通胀，就是一个国家同时经历非常缓慢的增长、失业率高企，以及物价飙升，亦即通胀（inflation）这样的一个经济状态。　　

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Michael Chugani褚简宁
中译：七刻