美国国家公共电台 NPR Can A Reagan-Era Policy Offer An Alternative To Tariffs?

 

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It was 1981. A new Republican president with a background in the entertainment business was trying to jumpstart the U.S. economy out of a brutal¹ recession. The president pushed tax cuts. Then his administration had to come up with a plan to deal with trade. America's auto² industry was suffering as new competition came in from Japan. What the Reagan administration did about it has shaped the auto industry we see today in America. And NPR's Dustin Dwyer reports it could serve as an example for the Trump³ administration in its ongoing⁴ rancorous trade battles.

DUSTIN DWYER, BYLINE⁵: The man Reagan put in charge of his trade policy in 1981 was William Brock. Brock says at that time, Congress was looking to take tough action to stop Japanese car imports. Brock went to the Japanese and proposed a different solution.

WILLIAM BROCK: The thought was that if Japan would put some quiet, voluntary limits on their shipments, it would help ease the problem till we could walk through a transition period.

DWYER: This idea is what's known as a voluntary export restraint. Instead of a tariff⁶, which acts as a tax on imports, the restraint is more like a voluntary quota⁷. The Japanese carmakers agreed they wouldn't send more than a certain amount of cars to the U.S. each year. And the original deal was supposed to last three years. It ended up lasting⁸ more than a decade. But the point was it was a negotiated, long-term deal. Companies and customers could expect it wouldn't go away in a flash like a tariff can.

With the Japanese restraints in place, the Detroit Three rebounded⁹. In 1984, President Reagan made a trip to a Ford¹⁰ plant in Missouri. And he told workers there some had urged him to take a harsher approach to Japanese imports, to push tariffs¹¹ instead of voluntary agreements. Reagan wasn't having it.

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RONALD REAGAN: I believe if Americans work together to improve quality, become more productive, hold down costs and invest in tomorrow's technology, then we can outcompete, outperform and outsell the pants off anybody.

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DWYER: A study published in 1999 found that the voluntary restraints boosted profits for the Detroit Three by about $1.6 billion. And that's mostly because it made Japanese imports more expensive, so there's also a case that it hurt consumers. But the biggest and longest-lasting impact of the policy can still be seen today in places like Georgetown, Ky., Smyrna, Tenn., and Marysville, Ohio, places where Toyota, Nissan and Honda all built plants in the 1980s.

Susan Helper, an economist¹³ at Case Western Reserve University who has studied the auto industry, says the carmakers might have moved production to the U.S. at some point anyway, but the trade policy made it more urgent.

SUSAN HELPER: So I think it jump-started that sooner and maybe made it easier for automakers from other nations to come in as well.

DWYER: But Helper says the voluntary restraints weren't perfect because, she says, when the new plants came in, they didn't come with the same protections for workers that had been established at the Big Three. They were and are non-union shops.

HELPER: Some of the only non-union automotive plants in the world are in the United States as a result of this policy.

DWYER: So one lesson for today's ongoing trade disputes, at least according to Helper, is to make worker protections part of the policy. William Brock disagrees with this take. He says the new automotive jobs in the U.S. were a good thing, and getting involved in wages and benefits isn't what the government should be doing. But another big lesson from the Reagan policy in the 1980s is just how long the impacts can last. The restraints Brock negotiated in 1981 led to investments in the U.S. that are still here and still affecting the economy 37 years later. Dustin Dwyer, NPR News, Grand Rapids, Mich.

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1 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。

2 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

7 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。

8 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

9 rebounded   

弹回( rebound的过去式和过去分词 )； 反弹； 产生反作用； 未能奏效

参考例句：

• The ball rebounded from the goalpost and Owen headed it in. 球从门柱弹回，欧文头球将球攻进。
• The ball rebounded from his racket into the net. 球从他的球拍上弹回网中。

10 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

11 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

12 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

13 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。