歐盟着手對美國邊境稅提案發起法律挑戰

Lawyers for the EU and other trading partners have begun laying the groundwork for a legal challenge to a US border tax proposal that could trigger the biggest case in World Trade Organisation history.

歐盟和其他貿易伙伴國的律師團隊已展開準備工作，擬向美國的邊境稅提案發起法律挑戰，這可能觸發世界貿易組織(WTO)史上最大的案件。

The preliminary moves come as Republicans in Congress work to convince president Donald Trump to back a shake-up of the US corporate tax system that would include a “border adjustment” system. It would see US imports subject to tax and export revenues exempted.

目前，美國國會中的共和黨人正試圖說服唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)總統支持對美國公司稅制進行大幅改革，包括建立一套“邊境調整”制度，它將意味着進口要納稅，而出口免稅。

If the US were to adopt the mechanism it would represent the biggest shake-up in the global corporate tax system for almost a century, according to tax experts. Members of the WTO and trade experts warn that it would lead to a major challenge to the global trading system at a time when its most influential member is already tilting toward protectionism under Mr Trump.

稅務專家們表示，如果美國採用這一機制，那將代表着全球企業稅制出現近一個世紀以來最大調整。世貿組織成員國和貿易專家們警告，在世貿組織最有影響力的成員國在特朗普治下轉向保護主義的情況下，這將給全球貿易體系帶來一個重大挑戰。

Jyrki Katainen, the European Commission vice-president who oversees EU trade policy, told the Financial Times that Europe wanted to avoid a trade war with the US as that would be “disastrous” for the world economy.

分管歐盟貿易政策的歐盟委員會(European Commission)副主席於爾基?卡泰寧(Jyrki Katainen)告訴英國《金融時報》，歐洲希望避免與美國發生貿易戰爭，因爲那將對世界經濟造成“災難”。

But he made clear that the EU would be willing to act against the US whether it was related to the border tax proposal or the erection of other arbitrary trade barriers. “If somebody is behaving against our interests or against international rules in trade then we have our own mechanisms to react,” he said. “We have all the legal arrangements within the EU, but we are also part of global arrangements like the WTO and we want to respect the global rule base when it comes to trade.”

但他明確表示，歐盟將願意對美國採取行動——無論是針對邊境稅提案，還是針對其他任性貿易壁壘的建立。“如果有人在行爲上違反我們的利益或違反國際貿易規則，我們有我們自己的反應機制，”他表示。“我們在歐盟內部有所有的法律安排，但我們也是世貿組織等全球安排的一部分，我們希望在貿易方面尊重全球規則基礎。”

A defeat in a case such as the border tax could lead to some $385bn a year in trade retaliation against the US, according to Chad Bown, an expert on WTO trade disputes at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

彼得森國際經濟研究所(PIIE)的世貿組織貿易爭端專家查德?鮑恩(Chad Bown)表示，在邊境稅這樣的案件中敗訴，可能導致每年約3850億美元的針對美國的貿易報復。

That would be almost 100 times greater than the largest ever WTO finding. “The issue here is just orders of magnitude larger than what the WTO dispute settlement process typically is asked to manage,” Mr Bown said.

那將比世貿組織史上最大裁決的數額高出近100倍。“這裏的問題比世貿組織爭端解決程序通常處理的糾紛大得多，根本不在同一個數量級上，”鮑恩表示。

A senior trade official in Geneva said: “Our first assessment is that it is definitely not going to be compatible with the WTO.”

日內瓦一位高級貿易官員表示：“我們的初步評估是，它肯定不會與世貿組織相容。”

Mr Trump has yet to endorse the tax idea, pushed by Paul Ryan, House of Representatives speaker, and Kevin Brady, chairman of the House’s tax-writing ways and means committee.

特朗普尚未支持關稅構想，這個構想是由衆議院議長保羅?瑞恩(Paul Ryan)以及衆議院負責起草稅法的籌款委員會(Ways and Means committee)的主席凱文?布雷迪(Kevin Brady)推動的。

But advisers have praised it as a way of addressing what they see as the WTO’s unfair treatment of income-based tax systems such as the US’s.

但是顧問們讚賞這個構想，在他們看來，世貿組織對美國這樣基於收入的稅制沒有公平對待，該構想將是解決這個問題的一個途徑。

Mr Brady said he wanted to make sure that any reforms abided by global trading rules. “We are designing this to be WTO compatible,” he told the FT.

布雷迪表示，他希望確保任何改革都遵守全球貿易規則。“我們正從設計上確保它與世貿組織相容，”他對英國《金融時報》表示。