VOA慢速英語：英國希望加入跨太平洋伙伴關系貿易協(xié)定

Britain Hopes to Join Pacific Trade Deal

英國希望加入跨太平洋伙伴關系貿易協(xié)定

British officials say they hope their country will one day join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement.

英國官員表示，他們希望英國有一天會加入跨太平洋伙伴關系貿易協(xié)定(以下簡稱TPP)。

The TPP is currently being negotiated by 11 other countries. All 11 have a border facing either the Pacific Ocean or the South China Sea.

目前有11個國家參與TPP談判。所有這11個國家都毗鄰太平洋或是中國南海。

The British government hopes trade with fast-growing economies will make up for any losses that may take place after it leaves the European Union (EU).

英國政府希望同快速增長經(jīng)濟體的貿易能夠彌補英國退出歐盟之后可能產生的任何損失。

Britain's withdrawal from the EU, known as Brexit, is expected in 2019.

英國預計在2019年退出歐盟。

On a recent trip to China, Britain's Trade Minister, Liam Fox, suggested his country might one day join the TPP.

英國貿易部長利亞姆·?？怂?Liam Fox)最近在訪問中國時表示，英國可能某天會加入TPP。

"We don't know what the success of the TPP is going to yet look like, because it isn't yet negotiated," Fox said.

?？怂贡硎荆?ldquo;我們還不知道TPP最終將會怎樣，因為它還沒有協(xié)商完畢。”

"So, it would be a little bit premature for us to be wanting to sign up to something that we're not sure what the final details will look like. However, we have said that we want to be an open, outward-looking country, and therefore it would be foolish for us to rule out any particular outcomes for the future," he added.

他補充說，“對于我們來說，想要簽署任何協(xié)議都有些不成熟，因為我們不確定最終的細節(jié)如何。然而我們說過，英國希望成為一個開放、外向型的國家，因此我們不排除未來的任何可能。”

London sits some 7,000 kilometers from any Pacific coastline. So, is geography no longer an issue in 21st century trade?

倫敦距離太平洋海岸線大約七千公里。那么，在21世紀貿易中，地域不再是一個問題了嗎?

Not so, says economist Jonathan Portes. He works as a professor at Kings College London.

經(jīng)濟學家喬納森·波特斯(Jonathan Portes)表示，情況并非如此。波特斯是倫敦國王學院的教授。

Portes says, "There has been an argument put forward that, particularly as trade in services expands, and as a result of technology, it will matter considerably less in the future, and that seems to make a lot of sense. So far at least, the actual data and evidence don't really support this contention. For whatever reason, geography at the moment seems to matter as much as it ever did," he added.

波特斯表示：“有人提出了這點，尤其是在服務貿易擴大的情況下。同時由于技術的原因，未來它的影響也會大大降低，這似乎是很有道理的。但是至少截至目前，實際數(shù)據(jù)和證據(jù)并不能真正支持這一論點。不管出于什么原因，目前地域似乎和以往一樣重要。”

By withdrawing from the EU's Single Market and Customs Union, Britain will leave a free trade agreement that makes up about half of its foreign trade. By comparison, the 11 countries now negotiating the TPP combined accepted less than eight percent of all British exports last year.

英國退出歐盟的單一市場和關稅聯(lián)盟將會離開約占其一半對外貿易的自由貿易協(xié)定。相比之下，目前正在談判TPP的11個國家去年一共接收了英國出口總額不到8%。

Portes said it will take many years for Britain to profit from other trade deals. He added that British companies have close ties with the European Union. He thinks there will likely be problems because of Brexit.

波特斯表示，英國從其它貿易協(xié)定中獲益將會需要多年時間。他補充說，英國公司與歐盟有著密切關系。他認為英國脫歐可能會出現(xiàn)問題。

The countries negotiating the TPP include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan and Mexico. The others are New Zealand, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

參與TPP談判的國家包括澳大利亞、文萊、加拿大、智利、日本和墨西哥，另外還有新西蘭、馬來西亞、秘魯、新加坡以及越南。

Barack Obama, former president of the United States, was a driving force behind TPP. But the next president, Donald Trump, pulled the United States out of the deal, saying it would be bad for America. Negotiations between the 11 remaining countries continue slowly.

美國前總統(tǒng)奧巴馬是TPP背后的推動力量。但是下一任總統(tǒng)川普退出了TPP，稱它對美國不利。剩余11個國家之間的談判進展緩慢。

Because of the U.S. withdrawal, "the TPP has its own internal problems," said Portes, adding it will be a lot of work to fix those issues.

波特斯表示，由于美國退出，“TPP有自己內在的問題。”波特斯補充說，要解決這些問題需要花很多功夫。

But Britain's interest in the TPP has been welcomed by some of the countries involved, namely Australia.

但是英國對TPP的興趣受到了一些TPP參與國家，也就是澳大利亞的歡迎。

British Prime Minister Theresa May is expected to visit Asia later this year in an attempt to strengthen relations before Brexit.

英國首相特蕾莎·梅預計今年晚些時候將會訪問亞洲，她試圖在退歐之前加強英國與亞洲的關系。

I'm Susan Shand.

蘇珊·珊德報道。