放送今日份的雅思阅读文章，文章来源《经济学人》，标题为：铁桶人，纸牌屋。内容有关特朗普试图逆转贸易全球化，尽管特朗普一贯辩称全球化为美国带来的只是桩不划算的买卖。试图通过提高关税来组织国际贸易。然而众多企业并不买账。本篇雅思阅读文章建议精读时间：15分钟，阅读难度一般，有不少经济类专业词汇。

IT MUST seem to Donald Trump that reversing globalization is easy-peasy. With a couple of weeks still to go before he is even inaugurated, contrite firms are queuing up to invest in America. Last week Ford cancelled a $1.6 billion new plant for small cars in Mexico and pledged to create 700 new jobs building electric and hybrid cars at Flat Rock in Michigan—while praising Mr Trump for improving the business climate in America. Other manufacturers, such as Carrier, have changed their plans, too. All it has taken is some harsh words, the odd tax handout and a few casual threats.

特朗普肯定觉得逆转全球化易如反掌。离他正式就任尚有一两周，一家家幡然悔悟的公司已纷纷开始投资于美国本土。上周，福特取消了在墨西哥投资16亿美元建设小型车新工厂的计划，承诺在密歇根州的福拉特洛克(Flat Rock)创造700个生产电动车及混合动力车的新职位，同时还称赞特朗普改善了美国的商业环境。其他各家生产商，如开利(Carrier)，也都已改变了计划。特朗普所做的只是说了几句难听的话，给了些莫名其妙的税收好处，信口威胁了几家企业。

Mr Trump has consistently argued that globalization gives America a poor deal. He reportedly wants to impose a tariff of 5% or more on all imports. To help him, he has assembled advisers with experience in the steel industry, which has a rich history of trade battles. Robert Lighthizer, his proposed trade negotiator, has spent much of his career as a lawyer protecting American steelmakers from foreign competition. Wilbur Ross, would-be commerce secretary, bought loss-making American steel mills just before George W. Bush increased tariffs on imported steel. Daniel DiMicco, an adviser, used to run Nucor, America’s biggest steel firm. Peter Navarro, an economist, author of books such as “Death by China” and now an adviser on trade, sees the decline of America’s steel industry as emblematic of how unfair competition from China has hurt America.

特朗普一贯辩称全球化为美国带来的只是桩不划算的买卖。据说他想对所有进口商品施加5%甚至更高的关税。他集结了一些顾问，以助自己一臂之力。这些人都有钢铁产业的背景，而这个产业有着丰富的贸易战历史。特朗普提名罗伯特·莱特希泽(Robert Lighthizer)任贸易代表，此人职业生涯的相当一部分时间都在做律师保护钢铁企业免遭外来竞争。而获提名担任商务部长的威尔伯·罗斯(Wilbur Ross)则在小布什提高进口钢材关税之前大举收购亏损的钢铁厂。顾问丹尼尔·迪米科(Daniel DiMicco)曾掌管美国最大的钢铁企业纽柯(Nucor)。经济学家、《致命中国》(Death by China)等书的作者彼得·纳瓦罗(Peter Navarro)如今担任贸易政策的顾问。他认为美国钢铁产业的衰退是来自中国的不公平竞争伤害美国的典型表现。

雅思阅读经济类高频词汇：

globalization 全球化

tariff 关税

trade negotiator 贸易谈判代表

trade battles 贸易战争

steel firm 钢铁公司

But the steel business is not a model for trade policy in general and companies are capable of being tricksy, too. Mr Trump may simply be looking for good headlines, but if he wants more, his plans threaten to be an expensive failure.

然而钢铁产业并不是制定一般贸易政策时可参照的范本，而企业也能偷奸耍滑。特朗普或许只是想谋求些叫好的新闻头条，但如果他想要的不止于此，那么他的那些计划可能就会成为代价高昂的失败。

The miller’s tale(钢铁业的传说)

One reason is that Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, said last week that Congress would not be raising tariffs. Executive orders are bad politics and can get Mr Trump only so far. Another is that Ford’s plans are not as simple as they look. It will still build its new small car in Mexico—at an existing plant. But above all, Mr Trump gravely underestimates the complexity of messing with tariffs.

一个原因是，众议院议长保罗·瑞安(Paul Ryan)上周表示国会并不会提高关税。行政命令是糟糕的政治手段，特朗普借此能达成的目的也很有限。另一个原因是福特的计划并不像看上去那么简单，它仍将在墨西哥生产新的小型车——只不过是在现有的工厂里而已。然而最重要的问题还是特朗普严重低估了干涉关税这种行为的复杂后果。

雅思阅读经济类高频词汇：

Representatives 代表

underestimates 低估了

The men of steel are right to complain about China. Its government has indeed subsidized its steelmakers, leading to a glut that was dumped on the world market. Successive American governments have put up tariffs to protect domestic producers (in 2016 the Obama administration placed a tariff of 522% on cold-rolled Chinese steel), as has the European Union.

钢铁业者有理由抱怨中国。中国政府确实向本国钢企提供了补贴，结果导致超量的钢铁倾销至世界市场。接连几届美国政府都提高关税以保护本国生产商(奥巴马政府在2016年曾向来自中国的冷轧钢材征收522%的关税)，欧盟也曾采取过这样的措施。

雅思阅读经济类高频词汇：

glut 过剩

dump 转储

domestic producers 国内生产商

Yet this way of thinking fails to deal with the question of whether an ample supply of cheap steel courtesy of a foreign government is really so terrible: it benefits American firms that consume steel—and they earn bigger profits and employ more people as a result. Moreover, trade in most goods and services is not like steel. America’s biggest import from China is electrical machinery. China’s government does not subsidise the overproduction of iPhones which are then dumped on the market, causing iPhone-makers in America to be laid-off. Instead, a smartphone might be designed and engineered in California and assembled in China, using components made or designed in half a dozen Asian and European countries, using metals from Africa. Likewise, every dollar of Mexican exports contains around 40 cents of American output embedded within it. For producers of such goods, tariffs would be a costly disaster. American steelmakers might seek out government protection. Apple and its kind will not.

不过上述这种思路并没有问过这样一个问题：承蒙一个外国政府为自己提供了充足的廉价钢铁，这事是不是真的那么糟糕。消耗钢材的美国公司从中受益，它们利润增加进而雇用了更多的员工。更重要的是，大多数产品及服务的贸易都与钢铁贸易不同。美国从中国进口最多的是电机。中国政府并未向iPhone的过量生产提供补贴，随后大量投放市场的iPhone也没有造成在美国制造该手机的工人失业。实际上，一款智能手机也许在加州设计开发，在中国组装，使用六七个亚洲和欧洲国家制造或设计的部件以及来自非洲的金属。同样地，从墨西哥进口的每一美元的商品中就包含着美国约40美分的产值。对于这种商品的生产者来说，关税就意味着代价惨重的灾难。美国的钢铁企业也许得寻求政府的保护，但苹果及其同类则不会。

雅思阅读经济类高频词汇：

laid-off 下岗

output 输出

seek out 寻找

government protection 政府保护

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