奥巴马政府为TPP打地缘政治牌

The Obama administration is trying to refocus the fight with the president’s own party over trade as a question of US leadership, telling Democrats a failure to deliver a deal with Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries would hurt America’s standing in Asia.

在与总统本人所属的民主党围绕贸易的斗争中，奥巴马政府正试图转变策略，把它说成是一个关系到美国领导力的问题。白宫官员们告诉民主党人，假如无法与日本等11个环太平洋国家达成贸易协议，将损害美国在亚洲的地位。

In an attempt to overcome Democratic opposition in Congress to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, administration officials have been lobbying members of Congress and others since Friday’s rebuke from representatives concerned about the impact of Mr Obama’s trade agenda on domestic jobs.

为了消除民主党人在国会上对《跨太平洋伙伴关系协定》(TPP)的反对意见，自上周五众议员们因担心奥巴马贸易议程会损害国内就业而否决相关提案之后，官员们一直在游说国会议员和其他人士。

At the core of the administration’s argument is that, if it failed to deliver the TPP, the US would be ceding leadership in Asia to a rising China. That would have consequences beyond trade and hit US efforts on issues from cyber security to human rights and maritime security in the South China Sea.

奥巴马政府的核心论点是，如果未能达成TPP，美国将把在亚洲的领导地位拱手让给正在崛起的中国。其结果将不止影响贸易，还将打击美国在网络安全、人权及南中国海(South China Sea)海上安全等诸多问题上的努力。

“It is hard to separate the future of TPP from the future of our efforts to demonstrate that the US is going to be engaged in the [Asia Pacific] region,” a senior administration official said on Tuesday. “You cannot take TPP out of that equation without having a knock-on effect on the ability of the US to pursue a much broader agenda.”

“很难把TPP的未来与我们为显示美国将参与亚太地区事务所做的努力分隔开来，”一名高级政府官员周二表示，“你不可能把TPP单独抽离出来，而不使美国推行更广泛议程的能力受到连锁影响。”

One of President Barack Obama’s problems is that he has failed to convince Democrats on either the economic or geopolitical case for his trade agenda and the TPP.

美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)面临的一个麻烦是，无论是以经济方面的理由，还是以地缘政治方面的理由，他都没能说服民主党人支持他的贸易议程和TPP。

Administration members acknowledge that for many in Congress the geopolitical case is alien, because to secure re-election they have to be able to make a simple case on jobs to their electorates. That is hard to do when competition with China has contributed to a hollowing out of the US manufacturing sector and the loss of millions of jobs over the past 15 years.

政府官员承认，对很多议员来说，地缘政治之说感觉太遥远，因为如果要确保再次当选，他们必须用就业方面的理由来争取选民支持。这一点很难做到，因为与中国的竞争已使得美国制造业空心化，过去15年美国流失了数百万就业岗位。

Some lawmakers have complained that Mr Obama has focused on grand geopolitical ideas at the cost of domestic politics, and that this contributed to Democrats’ rebellion last Friday.

一些议员抱怨称，奥巴马以牺牲国内政治为代价，把重点放在宏大的地缘政治概念上，造成了民主党人上周五的反戈。

But with the battle for most Democratic votes effectively lost, the White House is turning back to geopolitics as an issue that some in the administration say can appeal to both pro-trade Democrats and Republicans.

但是，在争取多数民主党人投票支持的斗争实际上已经失败的情况下，白宫重新回到地缘政治的问题上。一些官员称这个话题既可以吸引支持贸易的民主党人，也可以吸引共和党人。

As evidence of what they see as rising trade competition with Beijing, officials on Wednesday pointed to a new trade deal signed between China and Australia, a TPP country.

政府官员周三提到中国与澳大利亚（TPP谈判国之一）新签订的贸易协定，他们认为这是美国与中国贸易竞争不断加大的一个证据。

Andrew Robb, Australian trade minister, said the future of the TPP was looking “quite problematic” because of Congress’ failure to give Mr Obama the “fast-track” authority he needs to complete the trade negotiations.

澳大利亚贸易部长安德鲁•罗布(Andrew Robb)称，TPP的未来看起来“问题相当大”，因为美国国会未能授予奥巴马为完成贸易谈判所需要的“快车道”(fast-track)授权。

“We are literally one week of negotiation away from completing this extraordinary deal, but the US Congress, as it has sometimes before, has caused a problem,” Mr Robb said.

“我们距完成这个非同寻常的协定还要进行一周左右的谈判，但是美国国会制造了一个麻烦，就像它以前有时的做法一样。”罗布称。

“If it’s not dealt with in the next two or three weeks, I think we’ve got a real problem with the future of the TPP,” he told Australian radio.

“如果接下来的两三周无法解决这个麻烦，我认为TPP的未来就真的麻烦了，”他向澳大利亚广播公司表示。

Supporters of Mr Obama’s agenda also deployed two old national security hands on Wednesday to make their geopolitical case.

周三，奥巴马贸易议程的支持者阵营由两名国土安全方面的老将出面，大谈地缘政治理由。

Sandy Berger, who served as national security adviser to Bill Clinton, told reporters: “Our perception in Asia and our leadership in the world will be significantly affected.” Countries in Asia “know China is going to be there in five years. They don’t know if we are going to be there in five years, or four years, or three years.” he said.

曾在比尔•克林顿(Bill Clinton)政府担任国家安全顾问的桑迪•伯杰(Sandy Berger)向记者表示：“我们在亚洲的认知度以及我们在世界的领导力将会受到重大影响。”他说，亚洲国家“知道5年以后中国还会在那里。他们不知道5年以后，或者4年，或者3年以后，我们是否还会在亚洲”。

Stephen Hadley, a former senior foreign policy adviser to President George W Bush, said the US was at risk of being left out as Asia was “knitting itself together” via trade agreements with China and others. “The TPP is our way of getting back in the game of this economic and trade explosion in Asia,” he said.

原为小布什(George W Bush)高级外交政策顾问的斯蒂芬•哈德利(Stephen Hadley)称，亚洲正在通过与中国和其他国家的贸易协定“紧密交织在一起”，美国面临被冷落的风险。“TPP是我们重回亚洲这场经济和贸易扩张的竞赛的途径。”