知情人士透露，特朗普政府希望中国进口更多汽车、飞机、大豆和天然气，以达到华盛顿方面削减1000亿美元美国对华贸易赤字的目标。
Reducing the trade deficit through higher US exports could ease demands for curbs on Chinese exports to the US — and so help spare goods made by American companies in China from new US import tariffs.
通过提高美国出口来减少贸易逆差，可能缓解限制中国对美出口的要求，从而帮助美国公司在中国制造的产品免受美国新的进口关税的打击。
Chinese envoy Liu He was asked for a written plan to reduce the US deficit during a White House meeting this month with treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin, US trade representative Robert Lighthizer and Gary Cohn, Mr Trump’s outgoing chief economic adviser, according to three people briefed on the discussions.
据三位听取了商谈情况简报的人士介绍，中国特使刘鹤本月在白宫与美国财长史蒂文•姆努钦(Steven Mnuchin)、美国贸易代表罗伯特•莱特希泽(Robert Lighthizer)以及即将离任的特朗普首席经济顾问加里•科恩(Gary Cohn)会晤期间，被要求拿出一份减少美国对华贸易赤字的书面计划。
The $100bn demand would account for more than a quarter of last year’s $375bn deficit in the trade in goods.
1000亿美元的要求将占到去年美国3750亿美元商品贸易逆差的四分之一以上。
The White House set its demand high so that Beijing — which has offered to liberalise financial services and drop some foreign shareholding limits, but has stopped short of specific timelines — would struggle to meet it.
白宫开口提出较高的要求，使得北京方面难以达到。中方已承诺放开金融服务和放弃一部分外资持股限制，但没有拿出具体时间表。
The Chinese delegation’s initial response was that a demand to cut the deficit by fiat was not a market-oriented way of doing business.
中国代表团的初步回应是，指令式减少赤字的要求不是以市场为导向的处置方式。
The preferred option for reaching the $100bn target is for the US to increase exports to China sharply, probably by increasing shipments of soyabeans, aircraft, cars and natural gas.
达到1000亿美元目标的首选方案是美国大幅增加对华出口，很可能是通过增加大豆、飞机、汽车和天然气销售。
The target could also be reached with sharp cuts in Chinese exports of manufactured goods such as machinery and electrical products, or a combination of both higher US exports and lower imports.
达到这一目标的途径也可以是大幅减少中国的机械和电子产品等制成品的出口，或者增加美国对华出口与减少从中国进口相结合。
The target is 100 times the size of a deficit reduction goal President Donald Trump referred to last week, when he tweeted that China had been asked for a “One Billion Dollar reduction in their massive Trade Deficit with the US”.
这个削减赤字的目标比唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)总统上周提到的数字大了100倍，当时他在Twitter上写道，中国已被要求“将美国的巨额对华贸易逆差减少10亿美元”。
“I was thinking, how could it be only $1bn? Then I heard he got the number wrong,” said Li Yong, senior fellow at the China Association of International Trade. Mr Li added that setting a number could help produce a “pragmatic attitude” towards the issue but would not work as a “rigid target”.
“我当时就在想，怎么可能只有10亿美元?然后我听说他搞错了数字，”中国国际贸易学会(China Association of International Trade)高级研究员李永表示。李永补充说，设定一个数字可能有助于双方在这个问题上产生“务实的态度”，但作为一个“僵化的目标”不会管用。
Chinese and US calculations of the trade gap differ by up to 20 per cent, commerce minister Zhong Shan said on Sunday. “The imbalance is partly due to American export restrictions,” he said, referring to high-tech and military-use items that the US blocks for export to China. “If those were relaxed, the deficit would be cut by one-third.”
中国商务部部长钟山周日表示，中美对贸易差距的计算结果相差高达20%。他指出这种不平衡的部分原因是美国的对华出口管制——此言指的是美国禁止向中国出口高科技和军事物品。他称，如果出口管制放松了，赤字就会减少三分之一。
He added: “No one wins from a trade war.”
他补充说：“贸易战没有赢家。”
Mr Trump hinted at the discussions last week during an announcement of new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. “We’re negotiating, now, with China. I don’t know that anything’s going to come of it. They have been very helpful,” he told reporters.
特朗普最近在宣布对钢铁和铝进口开征新关税时，隐约提到了上述讨论。“我们正在与中国谈判。我不知道会有什么结果。他们一直非常乐于帮忙，”他对记者们表示。
But Beijing and the Trump administration are on different pages, one person with knowledge of the talks said. The White House wants long-term changes in the balance of trade through structural reforms to China’s intellectual property regime and the lifting of tariffs on automobile and other US exports into China.
但是，了解谈判情况的一位知情人士说，北京方面和特朗普政府难以谈拢。白宫希望中国对知识产权制度进行结构性改革，并消除针对美国汽车和其他产品的关税，从而实现贸易平衡的长期变化。
“The two sides are almost talking past each other,” the person said. “Most people are sceptical that at the end of the day the Chinese are going to do something that impacts the priorities of the administration.”
“双方几乎是在各说各的，”这位人士说。“对于中国人最终会不会做一些对本届行政当局的优先事项有影响的事情，多数人表示怀疑。”
Much of the trade gap reflects manufacturing by US brands in China that takes advantage of the country’s lower wages, looser environmental regulations and increasingly well-integrated supply chain and logistics infrastructure.
很大一部分贸易逆差反映了美国品牌在中国从事的制造活动——利用中国的较低工资、较宽松的环境法规，以及日益完善的供应链和物流基础设施。
More than 50 per cent of the Chinese trade surplus with the US comes from shipments of American-branded goods including Apple products, according to data from the China Chamber of Commerce for Machinery and Electronic Products.
根据中国机电产品进出口商会(CCCME)的数据，50%以上的中国对美贸易顺差来自美国品牌商品——包括苹果(Apple)产品——的出货量。
“We have to acknowledge the market effect. There are 500,000 American importers — why are they buying from China?" said Mr Li of the China Association of International Trade. “American companies look for the best price to purchase and therefore maintain their growth and profits.”
“我们必须承认市场效应。美国有50万进口商——他们为什么要从中国购买?”中国国际贸易学会的李永问道。“美国公司寻觅最佳的购买价格，从而保持自己的增长和利润。”
Zhang Monan, of the China Center for International Economic Exchange, said recent US tax changes had “a clear effect” on short-term consumption and therefore on American imports from China. “American consumption is up but there has been no change in American exports,” she said.
中国国际经济交流中心(CCIEE)的张茉楠表示，近期美国的税收变化对短期消费以及美国从中国的进口具有“明显影响”。“美国人的消费增加了，但美国的出口没有变化，”她表示。
The Trump administration is preparing tariffs targeted against China, as well as investment and visa restrictions, to pressure Beijing over its intellectual property regime, its use of commercial espionage and its requirement that foreign investors transfer technologies to Chinese partners. Such practices are estimated to have saved China tens of billions of dollars.
特朗普政府正准备针对中国实施关税，外加投资和签证限制，以便向北京方面施压，矛头指向中国的知识产权制度、其商业间谍活动，以及其要求外国投资者将技术转让给中国合资伙伴。据估计，这些做法已经为中国节省了数百亿美元。
Eswar Prasad, a China expert at Cornell University, said Chinese officials told him Washington asked Mr Liu to reduce the US’s trade deficit with China by about $75bn.
康奈尔大学(Cornell University)的中国问题专家埃斯瓦尔•普拉萨德(Eswar Prasad)表示，中国官员告诉他，华盛顿要求刘鹤减少约750亿美元的美国对华贸易逆差。
He added: “The new tariffs [on steel and aluminium] have strengthened the Trump administration’s hand in negotiations with China since the threat of broad and tough US unilateral trade sanctions can no longer be taken lightly.”
他补充说：“(对钢铁和铝的)新关税加强了特朗普政府对华谈判的地位，因为美国采取广泛和严厉单边贸易制裁的威胁再也不能被轻视。”
