又中又英 | A reciprocal tariff | 褚簡寧

　　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.

　　當美國總統唐納德．特朗普決定向差不多所有國家徵收關稅後，震驚、不信，以及股市暴跌像海嘯般席捲全球。特朗普徵收一個全球性的百分之十對等關稅（reciprocal tariff），但對大部分國家實施不同程度的額外關稅，視乎他們跟美國有多少貿易順差。Reciprocal一字是用來形容兩邊相互、對等的情況；當甲國容許乙國的公民可以免簽證入境，而乙國同樣實施這樣的寬限給甲國，這就是reciprocal。

　　A reciprocal tariff是指甲國向乙國徵收的關稅與乙國向甲國所徵收的是一樣的。特朗普的百分之十對等關稅（reciprocal tariff）並不完全對等（reciprocal），但標示着一個開始，因為他說大部分國家向美國入口貨品徵收高於百分之十的關稅，因此他在百分之十以外再徵收額外關稅。批評特朗普關稅的人都同意，許多國家對待美國不公，向美國收取的關稅比美國向其徵收的為高；但他們說，特朗普的全球貿易戰就像為了煮一塊牛扒而燒掉整間屋（burning down the house to cook a steak）。

　　習語burning down the house to cook a steak是指用極端的措施去解決問題，但其實本可用不那麼偏激的手法去解決的。他們說，特朗普應該跟其他國家協商，而不是發動全球貿易戰。一些經濟學家警告指，貿易戰可能引致stagflation—stagflation是形容停滯型通脹，就是一個國家同時經歷非常緩慢的增長、失業率高企，以及物價飆升，亦即通脹（inflation）這樣的一個經濟狀態。　　

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻