美國奧運隊服中國製造真的重要嗎?

In a perfect world, here's what Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. John Boehner might have said when confronted last week with the revelation that China stitches together U.S. Olympic uniforms:

如果是在完美的世界裏，參議院多數黨領袖裏德(Harry Reid)和衆議院議長博納(John Boehner)上週發現美國奧運代表團隊服乃“中國製造”這一情況時可能會這樣說：

'Small potatoes. Call us back after we've fixed the deficit, the economy, Iran, and our real problems with China.'

相關報道小事一樁。等我們解決了預算赤字、經濟低迷、伊朗問題以及我們和中國間真正的問題之後再來討論這事。

But no such luck. Democrat Reid said we should 'burn' the clothes. Republican Boehner said, 'They should have known better.' Several senators this week spent their time, and the public's money, introducing the 'Team USA Made in America Act,' which would require that future Olympic uniforms be made─guess where.

但我們沒有這樣的運氣。民主黨人裏德說，我們應該“燒掉”這些隊服。共和黨人博納則說，他們早該知道不應這麼幹。本週多位參議員花了大把時間和納稅人的錢試圖引入一項法案：《奧運隊服美國生產法案》。這項法案將規定，今後美國代表團的奧運隊服必須由美國製造。

Election seasons often bend sensibility, and this year is no different. Populism gets votes. It also distracts from tackling the big China issues that actually matter to U.S. business: protection of intellectual-property rights, market access, forced transfer of U.S. technology to China, and the ability of China's state-owned enterprises to crush competitors. These days that agenda is largely on the back burner.

在大選季，敏感性問題常常會被扭曲，今年也不例外。民粹主義總是能贏得選票。這同時也分散了我們的精力，令我們無暇顧及那些對美國商界來說真正重要的“中國問題”：保護知識產權；市場準入；強迫美國將技術轉移至中國；中國國有企業具有的壓垮競爭對手的能力。最近這些問題反而大都退居次要位置。

Says an executive with a U.S. manufacturer that has operations in China: 'The comments reflect either a lack of understanding of comparative advantage and how trade works (the Chinese are really good at producing low-cost uniforms, the U.S. is really good at innovative technology and advanced manufacturing-which would you rather be?), or cynical politics. More likely both.' He doesn't want to be named and get his company in trouble with the politicians.

各國2012奧運隊服一覽一家在中國有生產業務的美國製造企業的高管說，這些言論要麼反映出說話人不瞭解比較優勢理論以及國際貿易的運行機制（中國人非常善於生產低成本的服裝，美國人的優勢則在於技術創新和先進製造業──難道你希望情況反過來嗎？），要麼就是一種憤世嫉俗的政治觀點，很有可能兩種情形都存在。這位企業負責人不願具名，他不願有政客來找自己公司的麻煩。

It's 'grandstanding,' says another manager with a tech multinational. 'There are far more important bilateral business and trade issues for both countries.'

另一家高科技跨國企業的經理說，這種言論無非是爲了譁衆取寵，對中美兩國來說，還有很多重要得多的雙邊經貿問題值得關注。

The flap over the uniforms has a lot to do with America's fraught relations with China-a sense that the U.S. is losing the race to this commercial juggernaut. Ask the average man on the street what percentage of what we buy in the U.S. is made in China-including those Olympic uniforms-and you'll probably get estimates well into the double digits.

美國議員在隊服問題上的焦慮其實和中美關係存在種種問題有很大關係。美國人覺得，在這場試圖主宰商業世界的競爭中，美國輸給了中國。問問大街上一個普通美國人，我們在美國購買的商品中，“中國製造”佔比多大（包括那些奧運隊服）？你得到的估計比例很可能是兩位數。

And yet researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco calculate that in 2010 goods labeled 'Made in China' accounted for just 2.7% of U.S. personal-consumption expenditures on goods and services-all the things we buy in a given year, from cars to clothing to health care. (Services account for about two-thirds of our spending and are chiefly produced locally.)

但舊金山聯邦儲備銀行(Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco)的研究人員計算後發現，2010年，標有“中國製造”的商品在美國商品和服務的個人消費支出中佔比僅爲2.7%，這裏的“商品和服務”包括了我們在一年中所購買的所有東西，從汽車到衣服再到醫療保健。（在我們的支出中，服務佔比約爲三分之二，主要由美國國內機構提供的。）

U.S. businesses transport, sell and market those Chinese goods. Strip that value out, and the percentage attributed to the actual cost of Chinese imports drops to just 1.2%. Products that are made in America also sometimes include made-in-China components. But when the researchers added those components into their calculations, the final figure inched up to just 1.9%.

美國企業負責運輸、銷售和推廣這些中國商品。剔除這部分價值，美國進口自中國的商品的實際成本在美國民衆消費支出中的佔比降至僅1.2%。就算是那些標着“美國製造”的商品有時也包含中國製造的零部件。但當研究人員將這些零部件價值也計算在內後，最終佔比僅升至1.9%。

'Although globalization is widely recognized these days, the U.S. economy actually remains relatively closed,' the researchers said in their report. 'The vast majority of goods and services sold in the U.S. is produced here.'

報告說，雖然全球化如今已是普遍公認的事實，但美國經濟實際上仍然是相對封閉的，美國市場上銷售的絕大多數產品和服務都產自國內。

Ralph Lauren, which designed the U.S. Olympic uniforms, won't say what factory in China has the work. Kersten Zhang in the Journal's Beijing bureau says one company making clothes for Ralph Lauren is Hong Kong-based Luen Thai, which has operations in southern China. Just this one company makes millions of garments and accessories a year for several American and global retailers.

設計美國奧運隊服的拉爾夫•勞倫公司(Ralph Lauren)拒絕透露是哪家中國工廠拿到了服裝生產業務。《華爾街日報》北京分社的張永靜(Kersten Zhang)說，爲拉爾夫•勞倫生產服裝的公司之一是香港的聯泰控股(Luen Thai)，該公司在華南地區有營業機構。僅這一家公司每年就爲數家美國零售商和全球零售商生產數百萬的服裝和配飾。

China can clearly make clothes and Olympic uniforms more cheaply than we do in the U.S. That said, Ralph Lauren used employees in America to design the uniforms. And if the San Francisco Fed's calculations are correct, more than half of the value of any public sale in the U.S. of the made-in-China clothes will flow to American companies.

中國肯定能夠以低於美國的成本生產服裝和奧運會隊服。不過拉爾夫•勞倫是讓美國的員工來設計隊服的。如果舊金山聯邦儲備銀行的計算準確，那麼中國產服裝在美國的零售額中，就有一半以上將流入美國公司的腰包。

'Across the business community there's a recognition that we need to talk about trade in a more sophisticated way-that global value chains can't be boiled down to three words: 'Made in China' or 'Made in America,'' says John Murphy of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

美國商會(U.S. Chamber of Commerce)的墨菲(John Murphy)說，整個商界有一個認識，即我們需要用一種更加成熟的方式討論貿易問題：全球價值鏈不能歸結爲“中國製造”或“美國製造”這樣簡單的詞語。

'I think the debate reflects the current economic and unemployment concerns' in the U.S., adds John Frisbie, head of the U.S.-China Business Council.

美中貿易全國委員會(U.S.-China Business Council)會長傅強恩(John Frisbie)說，我認爲這場討論反映了美國人當前對經濟和失業問題的關切。

Castigating foreigners during election cycles and economic downturns is familiar sport in America. Bill Clinton famously campaigned against the 'butchers of Beijing' when he ran for president. But once elected he championed China's entry into the World Trade Organization.

大選年和經濟低迷期斥責外國人，在美國是一種常見的遊戲。衆所周知，克林頓(Bill Clinton)在競選總統時就曾抨擊“北京屠夫”。但在當選之後，他又表態支持中國加入世界貿易組織(World Trade Organization)。

We're seeing this dynamic again now. Mitt Romney has a 'Confront China' policy and says he'll declare China a currency manipulator if he's elected president. Barack Obama recently announced tariffs on certain Chinese goods. Meanwhile, there's little movement on the more complex issues.

現在我們又看到了這種現象。羅姆尼(Mitt Romney)有一套“與中國針鋒相對”(Confront China)的政策，表示他如果當選總統，就會將中國定性爲匯率操縱國。奧巴馬(Barack Obama)最近宣佈對某些中國貨物施以懲罰性關稅。與此同時，那些更復雜的議題卻少有進展。

'The relationship at this point is a bit stalled,' says Charlene Barshefsky, the chief U.S. trade negotiator in the Clinton administration and now in the trade practice at WilmerHale. 'On the trade side there isn't an enormous amount of genuine activity going on.'

曾在克林頓政府擔任美國貿易代表、目前在律師事務所WilmerHale從事貿易事務的巴爾舍夫斯基(Charlene Barshefsky)說，當前美中關係有些停滯；在貿易領域真心誠意的交流活動不多。

That will change after the U.S. elections and the leadership transition now under way in China, she believes. 'Both countries will go back to trying to find elements over which they can cooperate. That's been the pattern over the last 30 years.'

她相信，在美國大選、以及中國目前正在進行的領導層換屆完成之後，這一情況將會改變。她說，兩國都會重新尋找能夠合作的領域；過去30年一直就是這麼一個情況。

This assumes, of course, that America can get past the critical issue of who should sew our Olympic duds.

當然這有一個前提，那就是美國能夠想通本國奧運隊服應由誰來縫製這個關鍵的問題。