中美月底重启贸易谈判，人民币汇率成焦点
华盛顿——美国和中国将在本月底重返谈判桌，争取缓解自今年贸易谈判破裂以来持续数月的紧张关系，两国已经对彼此加征了几个轮次的关税。
China said on Thursday that it would send a delegation led by Wang Shouwen, its vice minister of commerce, to Washington to meet with a group of officials led by David Malpass, the Treasury Department’s under secretary for international affairs. Although Trump administration officials have repeatedly said the ball is now in China’s court to revive the faltering discussions, the Chinese government said the trip was being made at the invitation of the United States.
中方周四表示，将派出由商务部副部长王受文率领的代表团前往华盛顿，与美国财政部负责国际事务的副部长戴维·马尔帕斯(David Malpass)带领的一批官员会面。尽管特朗普政府的官员多次表示，这场一波三折的谈判能不能重启得看中国，但中国政府表示，此次访问是应美方邀请进行的。
The talks come as the trade relationship between the two countries faces further deterioration. The Trump administration is preparing far more expansive tariff measures, including levies on another $16 billion worth of Chinese products that are expected to go into effect next Thursday. The administration is also scheduled to hold six days of hearings over the next two weeks to allow up to 370 witnesses to weigh in on plans for tariffs on a further $200 billion worth of Chinese products, a spokeswoman for the United States trade representative said.
此番会谈正值双方贸易关系面临进一步恶化之际。特朗普政府准备了覆盖面更大的关税措施，包括对另外一批价值160亿美元的中国商品征收关税，预计该措施将于下周四生效。美国贸易代表发言人说，特朗普政府还计划在未来两周举行为期六天的听证会，将有多达370名证人现身，对另外价值2000亿美元的中国商品关税计划发表意见。
If all of those tariffs go into effect, the United States would be taxing roughly half of the goods it imports from China each year, raising prices for a broad swath of manufacturers, retailers and other industries.
如果这些关税全部生效，美国每年将对从中国进口的一半商品征税，这会导致大量的制造商、零售商和其他行业提高价格。
The meeting between midlevel officials is a departure from the formal rounds of talks between top economic teams from the United States and China that took place during the early days of the Trump administration and the trade meetings led by Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and Liu He, China’s vice premier in charge of economic policy, this spring.
这次中层官员之间的会晤不同于特朗普政府初期美中高级经济团队之间的正式会谈，以及由财政部长史蒂芬·马努钦(Steven Mnuchin)和负责经济政策的中国副总理在今年春天举行的贸易会谈。
Larry Kudlow, the director of the White House’s National Economic Council, sought to lower expectations on Thursday and insisted that President Trump had no intention of backing down on his demands.
周四，白宫国家经济委员会(National Economic Council)主任拉里·库德洛(Larry Kudlow)试图降低人们的期望值，坚称特朗普总统无意放弃自己的要求。
“Any time you’re talking, that’s better than not talking,” Mr. Kudlow said in an interview with CNBC.
库德洛在接受CNBC采访时说：“无论何时，谈总比不谈好。”
Mr. Kudlow said that the demands of the United States have not changed, and that China must lower its tariff and non-tariff barriers and cease the theft of American intellectual property. 库德洛说，美方的要求没有变，中国必须降低关税和非关税壁垒，停止窃取美国的知识产权。
“The Chinese government in its totality must not underestimate President Trump’s toughness and willingness to continue this battle,” Mr. Kudlow added.
他还说：“从整体上，中国政府可不要低估特朗普总统的强硬和继续这场战斗的意愿。”
Beyond tariffs, currency concerns have re-emerged as an issue in the Trump administration, and they are expected to come up during this round of talks.
除了关税问题，汇率问题已重新引起特朗普政府的关注，预计它们都是本轮谈判的内容。
The value of China’s currency, the renminbi, has fallen roughly 10 percent against the dollar since the beginning of April, a change that makes Chinese products cheaper for foreigners to purchase and helps offset the impact of the Trump administration’s tariffs.
自4月初以来，人民币兑美元的汇率已下跌约10%，对外国人来说，这一变化令中国制造的商品变得更便宜了，从而有助于抵消特朗普政府增收关税所带来的影响。
Economists say the currency has weakened because of market forces and the strengthening of the dollar, as well as the influence of the Chinese government, which sets a baseline for the currency and then allows its value to fluctuate within a narrow band.
经济学家说，由于市场力量、美元走强以及中国政府的影响，人民币已经走弱。中国政府为人民币设定了一个基准线，允许它在一个狭窄的范围内波动。
That drop in value will put pressure on the Treasury Department in advance of an October report in which Mr. Mnuchin is charged with deciding whether to label countries currency manipulators. So far, the Trump administration has declined to give China the label, saying that while China manipulated its currency in the past, that problem had dissipated for now.
这一下降将预先给财政部10月份的报告施加压力，在该报告中，马努钦将决定是否把某些国家标记为货币操纵者。到目前为止，特朗普政府并未给中国贴上这个标签，并表示虽然中国过去操纵过汇率，但这个问题目前已经不存在了。
But in the last month, China’s currency has once again become a target for Mr. Trump.
但在上个月，中国货币再次成为特朗普的目标。
“China, the European Union and others have been manipulating their currencies and interest rates lower, while the U.S. is raising rates while the dollars gets stronger and stronger with each passing day — taking away our big competitive edge,” Mr. Trump tweeted on July 20. “As usual, not a level playing field …”
“中国、欧盟和其他国家一直在操纵货币和利率走低，在美元日益坚挺和强势的时候，美国正在加息——这消除了我们的巨大竞争优势，”特朗普在7月20日的一条推文中写道。“像往常一样，这不是公平的竞争环境……”。
In its coming talks, the Treasury Department will seek to pressure the Chinese to lift the value of their currency, a person briefed on the plans said. But additional American tariff measures going into effect in coming months could further push down the value of the renminbi against the dollar, complicating those efforts.
一位知情人士表示，在即将举行的会谈中，美国财政部将向中国施加压力，要求它提升人民币价值。但未来几个月实施的其他美国关税措施可能会进一步压低人民币兑美元的汇率，加剧了这些行动的困难。
The Trump administration is engaged in trade clashes on multiple fronts, as American negotiators seek to wrap up talks over the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico and hold additional talks with European and Japanese counterparts in coming months.
特朗普政府正在多个阵线卷入贸易冲突，目前，美国谈判代表正寻求与加拿大和墨西哥就北美自由贸易协定(North American Free Trade Agreement)进行谈判，并在未来几个月与欧洲和日本同行举行更多会谈。
In the meantime, talks with China have moved slowly. The White House has seemed unimpressed by China’s offers to purchase tens of billions of dollars’ worth of additional American products, which Trump administration trade officials say fall short of the substantial changes they want China to make to its partly state-run economy.
与此同时，与中国的谈判进展缓慢。白宫对中国提出的额外购买数百亿美元美国产品的提议似乎并不感兴趣，特朗普政府官员表示，这些产品不能满足的要求，即中国对其部分由国家所有的经济进行充分的改革。
Trade experts were skeptical on Thursday that the coming talks would prove fruitful. Chinese officials have expressed frustration that the United States has not empowered a point person in the trade talks who can speak on behalf of Mr. Trump. In May, after Mr. Mnuchin announced that the trade war was “on hold,” the president scrapped the agreement that the countries were working toward and called for more tariffs.
周四，贸易专家对即将举行的会谈是否能取得成果持怀疑态度。对于美国没有在贸易谈判中授权一位能代表特朗普发言的关键人物，中方表达了不满。5月，在马努钦宣布贸易战“暂停”之后，总统取消了两国正在努力争取达成的协议，并且要求征收更多关税。
Mr. Malpass is even less empowered than Mr. Mnuchin to strike a deal, and while the Treasury Department has been the agency most aggressively pushing for a trade truce, the Office of the United States Trade Representative, led by Robert E. Lighthizer, is formally charged with overseeing the lists of Chinese goods facing tariffs.
在达成协议方面，马尔帕斯甚至比马努钦更没有权力，虽然财政部一直是最积极推动贸易停战的机构，但即将征收关税的中国商品清单编制工作，是由罗伯特·E·莱特希泽(Robert E. Lighthizer)领导的美国贸易代表办公室(Office of the United States Trade Representative)正式负责的。
At the Group of 20 summit meeting of finance ministers in Argentina last month, Mr. Mnuchin said that he had engaged only in “chitchat” with his Chinese counterparts and that the ball was in China’s court to initiate a breakthrough.
马努钦说，上个月在阿根廷举行的20国集团财长会议上，他只和中国同行做了“闲谈”，并且取得突破的关键在于中国。
“This looks like it will be a waste of time for the two govts,” Scott Kennedy, the director of the Project on Chinese Business and Political Economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said on Twitter. “Who thinks US Treasury Dept is empowered to make THE deal to end the trade war?”
“这对两国政府来说似乎是浪费时间，”国际战略研究中心(Center for Strategic and International Studies)中国商业与政治经济项目主任甘思德(Scott Kennedy)在推特上说。“谁会认为美国财政部有权达成那项能够结束贸易战的交易?”
