《经济学家》读译参考：有奶便是娘－越南成为WTO第150个成员国

文章作者 100test 发表时间 2007:05:12 12:24:42
来源 100Test.Com百考试题网

Marketmaker
造市者

EARLIER this year Ukraine became a market economy. （1）That might surprise many Ukrainians, who were under the impression they had been living with free enterprise since prices were deregulated in 1991, the currency became convertible in 1996, and the government began to off-load its assets, leaving about two-thirds of the economy now in private hands. But on February 17th, David Sampson, Americas Deputy Secretary of Commerce, was delighted to announce in Kiev that in his governments eyes Ukraine was now a “market-based economy”.

今年早些时候，乌克兰成为市场经济国家。这可能令许多乌克兰人感到惊讶，在他们印象中，自从1991年价格放开，1996年货币实现自由兑换，以及政府与国有资产分离（目前大约有2/3属于私有经济）以来，乌克兰人已经顺应了私营经济体制。不过，今年2月17日美国商务部副部长大卫·桑普森却在基辅兴高采烈地宣布，在美政府看来，乌克兰已成为一个“市场经济国家”。

Vietnam may have to wait until 2019 for a similar benediction. On October 26th it finally agreed a deal to become the 150th member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) once formalities are completed around the turn of the year. Almost 12 years of talks, resulting in 880 pages of policy commitments, have picked over many bones of contention[1], including Vietnams textile export subsidies, which it has promised to eliminate, and its banking system, which it has pledged to open up by next April. （2）There was also time over the past 12 years to broach less weighty, but equally delicate matters, such as Vietnams import ban on Harley Davidsons, and fears that it might block imports of the Bible because it contains “culturally reactionary and superstitious material”.

越南也许要到2019年才能等来这样的好消息。10月26日，它最终同意了一项协议，即年底前后完成正式手续后就可成为世界贸易组织（WTO）第150个成员国。近12年的对话、形成了长达880页的政策承诺文件，在许多争论焦点上都锱铢必较，其中包括越南的纺织品出口补贴及其银行业。前者越南现已许诺予以取消，而后者越南则已保证在明年4月前实行对外开放。在过去的12年里，一些虽不重要但同样微妙的问题也摆上了台面，比如越南禁止进口哈雷摩托车，又比如有人担心越南可能阻止《圣经》的传入，因为它含有“反动文化和迷信内容”。

The WTO is built on the principle that members will treat each other alike. But as one price of entry Vietnam agreed to remain on a list of so-called “non-market economies”, alongside China and several other WTO members, most of them former Soviet republics. This stigma has one practical consequence. It makes it harder for Vietnam to defend itself against the charge of dumping.

WTO是本着各成员国相互平等对待的原则而成立的。不过越南加入WTO所要付出的代价之一却是同意自己仍然是所谓的“非市场经济国家”，一如中国及其它几个WTO成员国（其中大多数都是前苏联共和国）。实际上这个不太好听的名字是会造成一定后果的——越南因此将更难在反倾销指控中胜诉。

Dumping occurs when an exporter sells a product abroad for less than it charges at home, or for less than it costs to make. （3）Rather than welcoming these bargains, importing countries tend to cry foul[2] and raise anti-dumping duties. But how do they know that an import is too cheap? In a non-market economy, Americas Department of Commerce argues, prices are not set by supply and demand so they cannot be trusted. Instead, it comes up with its own calculation of “normal value” based on costs in other “surrogate” countries.

一个出口商以低于国内售价或生产成本向国外销售某种商品，就构成了倾销行为。进口国并不欢迎这些廉价商品，反而往往鸣冤叫屈并提高反倾销关税。可是它们是如何知道一种进口商品过于便宜的呢？美国商务部认为，在一个非市场经济国家中，价格不是由供需所决定的，因此并不可靠。相反，它提出要采用以其它一些“参照国”的生产成本为基础来计算“标准价值”的方法。

America is Vietnams biggest market and one of the more prolific users of anti-dumping duties. But it is not the only place to brand its trading partners as unmarket-like. Last month the European Union (EU) confirmed that Vietnam was dumping leather shoes, based on what it costs Brazil—the chosen surrogate—to make them. Last year it imposed duties on Vietnamese bicycles, after comparing them with bikes made in San Luis Potosí, Mexico.

美国是越南最大的出口市场，也是反倾销关税额度较高的国家之一，但它并不是唯一将自己的贸易伙伴诬蔑为“非市场型”的地方。10月，欧盟（EU）根据其选择的“参照国”——巴西的生产成本，认定越南正在对皮鞋实施倾销。去年，它在将越南出口的自行车与墨西哥圣路易斯－波多西生产的自行车进行比较之后对前者强征了关税。

The most notorious case remains, however, Vietnamese catfish, or “basa” fish as they are now labelled so as not to upset fish-farmers in the Deep South[3]. In 2003 Americas Department of Commerce hit imports of the fish with duties of 37-64%. （4）It reached this decision after calculating what Vietnams fillets would cost if they were reared on a fish farm in the Kishoregonj region of Bangladesh, using water bought in India, transported by Bangladeshi truckers, with labour purchased at a price the department thinks should prevail in Vietnam, based on its income per head.

然而最为臭名昭著的还要算越南鲶鱼（或者像现在产品标签上写的那样叫“白沙鱼”，这样美国南部腹地的渔民就不会烦恼了）倾销案。2003年，美国商务部对进口鱼类征收了37％～64％的关税，重创了鱼类产品的进口。它之所以作出这一决定，是因为按照某种假设对越南鱼片的生产成本进行了计算，即假设越南的鱼是在孟加拉国基绍勒贡加邦喂养的，用的是从印度买来的水，运输的是孟加拉国卡车司机，再加上用美国商务部所认为的越南市场均一价（以越南人均收入为依据）购买劳动力。

What must Vietnam do to shake off the “non-market” label? The EU, the Americans and others each have their own requirements. America wants to see the removal of price-fixing and currency controls, even more foreign investment, free wage bargaining, and limited government ownership.

越南如何才能撕掉“非市场”标签呢？欧盟、美国和其它国家都有各自的要求。美国希望它取消物价限制和货币管控、吸引更多外资、允许自行商定工资以及缩小国有范围。

But “the economic logic is invariably something of a faç.ade[4],” argue Adam McCarty and Carl Kalapesi of Mekong Economics, a consultancy in Hanoi. The only criterion that really matters is that Americas retailers, who like Vietnams cheap merchandise, lobby harder than its garment-makers and catfish farmers who hate it. （5）It is mostly those with something to fear from open markets who accuse other countries of falling short of them.

然而，河内湄公河经济咨询公司的亚当·麦卡第和卡尔·卡拉佩西认为，“这种经济学逻辑往往都是一种表象而已。”唯一真正重要的评判尺度是，相比那些讨厌越南货的美国制衣商和鲶鱼养殖户，喜欢越南便宜货的美国零售商们会加大游说议会的力度。指责别国市场开放不足的通常都是那些对开放市场放心不下的国家。

[NOTES]

1. bones of contention n. 争论焦点，争端

2. cry foul to protest because you think something is wrong or not fair叫屈

3. the Deep South 南方腹地：美国东南部一地区，通常包括亚拉巴马州、佐治亚州、路易斯安娜州、密西西比州和南卡罗来纳州

4. faç.ade n. facade 正面；外在