ECONOMICS REPORT - NAFTA, Free Trade and the Presidential Campaign
Thu, 24 Apr 2008
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
经济报道：NAFTA(北美自由贸易协议)、自由贸易和总统竞选
2008年4月24日
这是VOA特别英语的经济报道。
The debate over free trade has intensified in this election year in the United States.
今年是美国竞选年，自由贸易之辩论剧烈。
Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have both threatened to withdraw from NAFTA if they could not renegotiate it as president. The North American Free Trade Agreement, they say, has cost high-wage jobs in the United States.
民主党(候选人)希拉里∙克林顿和巴拉克•奥巴马双双威胁说，(当选总统后)如果无法重新商谈NAFTA，将退出NAFTA。他们说，NAFTA损害美国高薪工作。
Their message is clear to people in states like Pennsylvania that have lost thousands of manufacturing jobs to foreign countries.
他们所传达的信息对于诸如宾夕法尼亚等州的人而言是明确的，这些州的制造业已经因国外的竞争而损失了数千工作。
Republican presidential candidate John McCain has criticized such talk about NAFTA. Senator McCain says the biggest problem is not free trade, but the inability to change with the new world economy.
共和党总统候选人约翰.麦凯恩批评NAFTA的此类言论。麦凯恩参议院说，最大的问题不是自由贸易，而是没有能力随世界新经济而改变。
Congress passed the agreement with Canada and Mexico in nineteen ninety-three. President Bill Clinton signed it into law, though this is the first year NAFTA is fully in effect.
国会在1993年通过了与加拿大和墨西哥的协议。尽管这是NAFTA全面履约的第一年，但比尔.克林顿总统在当年签署NAFTA，使其成为法律。
United States trade officials say trade among the NAFTA nations more than tripled from nineteen ninety-three to last year. They say jobs, manufacturing and wages in the United States increased faster in the last fourteen years than in the fourteen years before NAFTA.
美国贸易官员说，自1993至去年为止，NAFTA国家间的贸易增长三倍以上。他们说，美国过去14年的工作、制造业以及工资比NAFTA之前的14年增长快。
Senators Clinton and Obama say Canada and Mexico should agree to add protections for the environment and organized labor. Separate agreements deal with these issues now, but critics say the provisions are weak.
参议院克林顿和奥巴马说，加拿大和墨西哥应该同意增加对环境和工会工人的保护。目前，各协议分别处理这些问题，但是，批评人士说，这些条款很脆弱。
President Bush met this week with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in New Orleans. All three said now is not the time to renegotiate NAFTA.
本周，布什总统在新奥尔良会见墨西哥总统费利佩•伊诺霍萨和加拿大首相斯蒂芬•哈珀。三位领导都说，目前尚不是重新商谈NAFTA的时机。
The Bush administration wants Congress to approve new trade deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama.
布什政府希望国会批准与韩国、哥伦比亚和巴拿马的贸易新协议。
The free trade agreement with South Korea would be the biggest since NAFTA. South Korea would cut import taxes on American goods like beef and cars, but duties on rice would stay in place.
与韩国的自由贸易协议是NAFTA之后的最大协议。韩国将降低诸如牛肉和汽车等美国货物的进口关税，但是大米的关税仍将保持不变。
Last week South Korea announced plans to fully reopen its beef market to American products. It banned imports at the end of two thousand three over a case of mad cow disease in Washington state.
上周，韩国宣布向美国牛肉商品全面开放其牛肉市场的计划。韩国在2003年底因华盛顿州疯牛病而禁止进口(美国牛肉产品)。
The A.F.L.-C.I.O. labor group in the United States opposes the free trade agreement with Colombia. It says Colombia has a poor record on labor rights. Seventeen labor organizers have been killed in Colombia this year.
美国劳工联合会-产业工会联合会(AFL-CIO)反对与哥伦比亚的自由贸易协议，它说哥伦比亚在工人权利方面的记录不良，今年哥伦比亚有17位工会组织者遇害。
Earlier this month, the House of Representatives voted to delay action on the agreement. Speaker Nancy Pelosi says economic issues at home are more pressing.
本月早些时候，美国众议院表决，延迟这一协议。众议院议长南希-佩洛西说，国内的经济问题更棘手。
And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.
这是由Mario Ritter编写的、VOA特别英语的经济报道。我是Steve Ember。