美国与加拿大的贸易摩擦

It is called softwood, but these days it is producing nothing but hard feelings. Softwood is used to build houses, stuff that in skilled hands changes from a pile of wood into a recognizable home in mere days. In the United States, about 10% of such softwood comes from Canada. But on March 2nd the Department of Commerce announced that it would slap a tariff of around 9% on Canadian softwood. The Americans contend that Canada is subsidizing its timber industry, and dumping wood on to its neighbour for sale at prices that do not cover its production cost.

The Canadians hotly deny this, and the two sides are volleying expertise at each other. “They’ve hired their experts, and we’ve hired ours,” says John Allan, president of the British Columbia Lumber Trade Council. In Canada the provincial governments own forests, and each province is given considerable freedom in pricing its “stumpage”, as standing trees are oddly called. American critics say the Canadians all but give away those uncut trees. John Perez-Garcia, a professor of forestry at the University of Washington in Seattle, estimates that Canadian logging companies pay as much as 40% less for standing trees than they would if the market set the price.

Not so, retort the Canadians. Dan Evans, manager of log exports for British Columbia’s government, points out that stumpage fees cover only a small portion of what it costs a Canadian company to send lumber across the border. These companies, he says, have to build their own roads, re-forest logged lands, and pay the cost of planning their sales. “We feel we price our timber competitively.” It is worth noting that for years American companies were themselves accused of receiving subsidies; stumpage prices for trees cut down on federal land were long criticized as too low. Then they were quiet on the subject. But now that most American-produced lumber comes from private forests, government subsidies are anathema.

In Seattle, Robb Dunn, president of a chain of ten lumber stores, says his customers will just have to put up with higher prices. Some reckon the tariff will increase new-home prices by as much as $1,300. That may be a bit high; although lumber prices have gone up lately, they are still below the peak reached last summer. And rising interest rates may slow the American housing market, cutting demand.

The two sides hope to continue talks. One way out might be an agreement under which Canada taxes its lumber companies until it reforms its pricing policies to America’s satisfaction. But Mr Allan, for one, is not optimistic. The United States, he says, has not negotiated in good faith: “Its government just can’t get a grip in its timber industry, which is too powerful.”

1. Hard feelings produced by softwood result in _____.

[A] 10% of Canadian softwood comes into America [B] America impose a tax on Canadian softwood

[C] Canada is dumping wood into America [D] Canadian softwood is sold at a subsidized price

2. It is true of Canada that _____.

[A] experts are hired to defend the logging industry [B] the central government sets a uniform price for its forest

[C] the uncut trees are given to logging companies for free [D] logging companies pay 40% of the softwood tariff

3. The word “anathema” (Line 7, Paragraph 3) probably refers to something that are _____.

[A] welcomed [B] hated [C] admitted [D] avoided

4. What can we infer from the text?

[A] Lumber price mainly consists of stumpage fee. [B] Private forests monopolise the Canadian logging market.

[C] Americans apply a double standard in lumber trade. [D] Raising stumpage fees will finally solve the problem.

5. What will probably happen because of this trade war?

[A] Demand for wooden house will fall. [B] Customers will have to pay high prices.

[C] Canada will place higher tax on lumber industry. [D] The U.S. will negotiate the matter sincerely.

答案：1.B 2.A 3.B 4.C 5.B

核心词汇与超纲词汇

(1)hard(a.)冷酷无情的;硬心肠的;苛刻的

(2)slap(v.)(用手掌)打，拍;啪地一下放下，随意扔放;~ sth. on sb./sth.强制执行，强迫某人做，如The company ~ed a non-smoking ban on the premises(公司严禁在办公场所吸烟)

(3)tariff(n.)关税，税则;(旅馆、饭店等的)价目表、价格表

(4)subside(v.)资助, 津贴

(5)dump(v.)倾倒(垃圾)，倾卸，倾销;(n.)卸货场;垃圾站

(6)volley(n./v.)(某些体育运动，如网球或足球)截击空中球，凌空击球;(子弹的)群射，齐发;(质问、评论、辱骂等的)接连发出，如a ~ of angry questions一连串愤怒的质问;volleyball 排球运动

(7)expertise(n.)专门知识，专门机能，专长

(8)all but几乎，差不多

(9)give away送掉，分发，泄露，出卖，让步

(10)anathema令人厌恶的事;受诅咒的事，可恶的想法

(11)in good faith真诚，诚心诚意;in bad faith存心不良，背信弃义

(12)grip(n.)紧握;控制，影响力;理解，了解

全文翻译

它被称为软木，但最近软木带来的却是冷酷的情感。软木被用来建造房子，仅仅几天它在熟练工人手中就从一堆木材变成了一个可辨认的家。在美国，这样的软木大约10%来自加拿大。但是3月2日，美国商务部宣称它将对加拿大软木强制征收9%的关税。美国认为加拿大政府在补贴其伐木业，并且以低于生产成本的价格倾销于邻国。

加拿大对此予以强烈的否认，双方用专家知识相互攻击。加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省木材贸易委员会主席约翰-艾伦说，“他们雇佣了专家，我们也有”。在加拿大，省政府拥有森林，各省政府有足够的自由为“立木”，即未伐倒的树木定价。美国评论家指出加拿大几乎在赠送那些树。西亚图华盛顿大学林学教授约翰•皮里斯估计加拿大伐木公司为立木支付的价格比市场规定的要少40%。

加拿大反驳说不是这样。加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省木材出口负责人丹•埃文斯指出，立木的费用只是一家加拿大公司将木材送出边界所花费的成本的一小部分。他说，这些公司还必须自己修路、在已伐木的土地上重新植树造林，以及支付营销策划的费用。“我们认为自己木材的定价有竞争力”。值得指出的是，多年以来美国公司自己也被指责得到补贴，批判其联邦土地上伐木的立木价格太低。这些公司对此保持沉默。但是现在大部分美国生产的木材来自于私人的森林，政府的资助非常可恶。

西亚图十家连锁木材店的老板罗伯•邓恩说，他的顾客将不得不忍受更高的价格。一些人认为关税将使新家的价格增长1,300美元。这有点贵;虽然最近木材价格上涨，但是仍然不会达到去年夏天的最高值。增长的利率将减少美国房产市场的需求从而减慢其发展。

双方希望继续对话。解决问题的方法之一是制定协定，加拿大收取伐木公司的税，直到它对价格政策的改革让美国满意。但是艾伦先生对此并不乐观。他说：“美国没有协商的诚意，美国政府只是控制不了其强大的木材工业”。