中美將擴大高科技產品自由貿易
It’s time to look forward to cheaper video game consoles, GPS devices, wireless headsets and a whole load of other high-tech goods–although not in time for this holiday season.
美國自中國進口的遊戲機、全球定位系統（GPS）設備、無線耳機以及其它許多高科技產品的價格有望下降，雖說價格不會在今年聖誕假期就降下來。The U.S. and China reached a landmark agreement early Tuesday on cutting tariffs for a whole range of high-tech goods, paving the way for the first global agreement on free trade in information technology in nearly 20 years.
本週二早些時候，中美兩國達成了一項里程碑式的協議，將互相削減多種高科技產品的關稅。這爲達成近20年來的首項信息技術全球性自由貿易協議鋪平了道路。
The deal, which has been years in the making, is a welcome piece of positive news in an economic relationship between the two countries that has run into trouble of late against a background of increased , with China aggressively pursuing some leading U.S. companies for alleged antitrust violations.
隨着中國對某些處於行業領先地位的美國企業積極展開反壟斷調查，近來中美兩國的經濟關係遭遇了一些波折。而這項醞釀多年的協議，是大受歡迎的利好消息。
“This is encouraging news for the U.S.-China relationship,” Reuters quoted USTR Michael Froman as saying on the sidelines of meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Beijing.
據路透社（Reuters）報道，美國貿易代表邁克爾o弗羅曼在於北京舉行的亞太經合組織（Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation）峯會會議間隙表示：“這對中美關係而言是令人鼓舞的消息。”“It shows how the U.S. and China work together to both advance our bilateral economic agenda but also to support the multilateral trading system.”
“這表明中美在共同努力推進雙邊經濟議程，同時也在努力支持多邊貿易體系。”For China, which is by far the world’s biggest exporter of such equipment, the agreement is a welcome boost to an economy that has lost momentum this year, and fits with a government strategy of trying to move the country’s economy up the value chain, rather than having it stay the low-cost workhouse of the world.
中國是全球最大的高科技設備出口國，中美本週二達成的協議，將提振今年增勢有所放緩的中國經濟，而且符合中國政府的戰略：推動國家經濟向價值鏈上端轉移，而不是一直做世界廉價工廠。The deal was announced by President Barack Obama after bilateral talks with China on the sidelines of the APEC summit. Froman’s office said in a statement it would “allow substantial expansion of ‘Made in America’… exports to growing markets without the imposition of burdensome tariffs, and support tens of thousands of well-paying U.S. manufacturing and technology jobs.”
同中方在APEC峯會間隙進行雙邊會談後，美國總統奧巴馬公佈了上述協議。美國貿易代表辦公室在一份聲明中表示，該協議將“允許更多‘美國製造’[的產品]無需徵收繁重關稅就出口到更多市場，並幫助美國新增成千上萬個高薪製造業和高科技崗位。”The deal covers more than 250 types of product not included in the original 1996 Information Technology Agreement. As a result of bringing these products under the ITA, tariffs on most of them will either be cut entirely or substantially reduced.
該協議涵蓋了250多類原1996年《信息技術協議》（Information Technology Agreement）未包含的產品。新加入《信息技術協議》的大部分產品，關稅將完全免除或大幅削減。The agreement paves the way for a global deal to be agreed at the World Trade Organization in Geneva, possibly by the end of the year. However, the last word still has to be spoken, as other countries such as Japan and South Korea will likely have issues of their own that need to be addressed.
該協議爲位於日內瓦的世界貿易組織（World Trade Organization）達成一項全球性協議鋪平了道路，其時間可能在今年年底。不過，現在還沒到下定論的時候，因爲日本和韓國等國可能有些尚待解決的問題。The ITA covers some $4 trillion a year in global trade, but the list of products covered by it hasn’t been expanded since 1996.
《信息技術協議》覆蓋了每年約4萬億美元的全球貿易，但自1996年以來，該協議所涵蓋的產品類別從未擴充過。
