奧巴馬推動TPP遭遇黨內阻力

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.

分管貿易政策的共和黨頭號人物呼籲美國總統巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)加倍努力，爭取更多民主黨議員支持一項關鍵貿易法案。預計美國國會即將舉行的投票將出現勢不兩立的局面。

“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.

“我們還需要跑過很多雨滴並保證不被雨水濺着，”掌握實權的參議院財政委員會(Senate Finance Committee)的主席奧林•哈奇(Orrin Hatch)對英國《金融時報》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.

這名猶他州共和黨參議員上月與人聯合發起一項法案，該法案將授予奧巴馬“快車道”權限，使其能夠與日本和另外10個太平洋週邊經濟體達成《跨太平洋夥伴關係》（Trans-Pacific Partnership，簡稱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.

覆蓋全球經濟40%的TPP若成功達成，將是20年來世界達成的最大貿易協定。

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.

授予總統“貿易促進權”的法案，預計最早將在本週提交參議院表決，並在5月底之前提交衆議院。

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.

該法案面臨着許多民主黨人的強烈反對，他們承受着來自工會的強大壓力，要求其抵制奧巴馬的貿易議程。但是，控制着國會兩院的共和黨方面堅稱，他們需要民主黨議員的支持，才能抵消某些茶黨派系共和黨人的叛變，這些人反對在任何事項上配合奧巴馬。

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，他和同爲共和黨人的衆議院籌款委員會(House Ways and Means Committee)主席保羅•瑞安(Paul Ryan)在說服某些茶黨派系共和黨議員方面取得了一些進展。他還稱讚奧巴馬在最近幾周更有力地迴應黨內的批評者。

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

但哈奇表示，總統和他的共和黨盟友仍然面臨一場艱苦的較量。

“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.”

“這是總統做得對的一件事，你會認爲民主黨議員會幫助他取得這個大勝利，”這名共和黨參議員表示。“這將是他在整整八年總統任期中最重要的勝利。”

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.”

“當我們拿出這項法案時，（民主黨對手）將在參議院裏扔炸彈，”他表示。“（總統）必須花點功夫，爭取更多民主黨人支持該法案。”

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.

“快車道”授權要求美國國會就貿易協定舉行簡單的批准或是否決投票，而不是尋求通過修改來重啓談判。它已被日本、新西蘭等國家列爲完成TPP談判的先決條件。

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”.

奧巴馬政府希望在夏天之前完成TPP談判，並在今年底之前（以及2016年總統大選的政治角力升溫之前）將這份12國之間的貿易協定本身提交國會批准。奧巴馬最近幾周在公開和私下場合都加大了遊說民主黨人的力度。上週四，他和近30名親商的民主黨衆議員匯聚一堂，舉行了其中一名衆議員所稱的“有關貿易和貿易政治的高年級研究生研討會”。

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.

不過，弗吉尼亞州民主黨衆議員格里•康諾利(Gerry Connolly)表示，在最好的情況下，435個席位的衆議院裏也只會有50至60名民主黨衆議員可能支持給予總統快車道授權。