奥巴马推动TPP遭遇党内阻力

The top Republican lawmaker on trade has called for US president Barack Obama to work even harder to build support among Democrats for a crucial trade bill on the eve of what are expected to be divisive votes in Congress.

分管贸易政策的共和党头号人物呼吁美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)加倍努力，争取更多民主党议员支持一项关键贸易法案。预计美国国会即将举行的投票将出现势不两立的局面。

“We’ve still got a lot of raindrops to run through here without getting splashed,” Senator Orrin Hatch, chairman of the powerful Senate finance committee, told the Financial Times.

“我们还需要跑过很多雨滴并保证不被雨水溅着，”掌握实权的参议院财政委员会(Senate Finance Committee)的主席奥林•哈奇(Orrin Hatch)对英国《金融时报》表示。

The Utah Republican is one of the sponsors of a bill unveiled last month that would grant Mr Obama the “fast-track” authority he needs to wrap up the Trans-Pacific Partnership with Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim economies.

这名犹他州共和党参议员上月与人联合发起一项法案，该法案将授予奥巴马“快车道”权限，使其能够与日本和另外10个太平洋周边经济体达成《跨太平洋伙伴关系》（Trans-Pacific Partnership，简称TPP）。

If successfully concluded, the TPP, which covers 40 per cent of the global economy, would be the biggest trade deal sealed in the world in two decades.

覆盖全球经济40%的TPP若成功达成，将是20年来世界达成的最大贸易协定。

The bill to grant the president what is formally known as “trade promotion authority” is expected to come to a Senate vote as soon as this week and to be presented in the lower House of Representatives before the end of May.

授予总统“贸易促进权”的法案，预计最早将在本周提交参议院表决，并在5月底之前提交众议院。

It faces stiff opposition from many Democrats who are coming under intense pressure from labour unions to resist Mr Obama’s trade agenda. But Republicans, who control both houses of Congress, insist they need Democratic support to offset defections by some Tea Party Republicans opposed to giving the president anything at all.

该法案面临着许多民主党人的强烈反对，他们承受着来自工会的强大压力，要求其抵制奥巴马的贸易议程。但是，控制着国会两院的共和党方面坚称，他们需要民主党议员的支持，才能抵消某些茶党派系共和党人的叛变，这些人反对在任何事项上配合奥巴马。

Mr Hatch said he and fellow Republican Paul Ryan, chairman of the House ways and means committee, were having some success convincing some Tea Party Republicans. He also praised Mr Obama for taking on his critics in the Democratic party more forcefully in recent weeks.

哈奇表示，他和同为共和党人的众议院筹款委员会(House Ways and Means Committee)主席保罗•瑞安(Paul Ryan)在说服某些茶党派系共和党议员方面取得了一些进展。他还称赞奥巴马在最近几周更有力地回应党内的批评者。

But the president and his Republican allies on the issue still faced a tough fight, Mr Hatch said.

但哈奇表示，总统和他的共和党盟友仍然面临一场艰苦的较量。

“This is one thing where the president is right and you would think Democrats would help him to have this big victory,” the senator said. “It would be the most important victory for the president in his whole eight years.”

“这是总统做得对的一件事，你会认为民主党议员会帮助他取得这个大胜利，”这名共和党参议员表示。“这将是他在整整八年总统任期中最重要的胜利。”

Democratic opponents “are going to throw bombs in the Senate when we bring it up”, he said. “[The president has] got to work to get more Democrats on board.”

“当我们拿出这项法案时，（民主党对手）将在参议院里扔炸弹，”他表示。“（总统）必须花点功夫，争取更多民主党人支持该法案。”

Fast-track authority commits Congress to holding simple up-or-down votes on trade agreements rather than seeking to renegotiate them via amendments. It has been held out as a precondition by Japan, New Zealand and other TPP countries to concluding the deal.

“快车道”授权要求美国国会就贸易协定举行简单的批准或是否决投票，而不是寻求通过修改来重启谈判。它已被日本、新西兰等国家列为完成TPP谈判的先决条件。

The Obama administration wants to wrap up the TPP negotiations before the summer and bring the 12-country agreement itself back to Congress for ratification before the end of the year and the ramping up of 2016 presidential election politics. Mr Obama has been lobbying Democrats more heavily in recent weeks, in public and private. On Thursday he met with almost 30 pro-business Democrats from the House for what one representative called an “advanced graduate student seminar on trade and the politics of trade”.

奥巴马政府希望在夏天之前完成TPP谈判，并在今年底之前（以及2016年总统大选的政治角力升温之前）将这份12国之间的贸易协定本身提交国会批准。奥巴马最近几周在公开和私下场合都加大了游说民主党人的力度。上周四，他和近30名亲商的民主党众议员汇聚一堂，举行了其中一名众议员所称的“有关贸易和贸易政治的高年级研究生研讨会”。

At best, however, there are only 50 to 60 Democrats in the 435-member House who might support granting the president fast-track authority, said Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat.

不过，弗吉尼亚州民主党众议员格里•康诺利(Gerry Connolly)表示，在最好的情况下，435个席位的众议院里也只会有50至60名民主党众议员可能支持给予总统快车道授权。