美国起诉中国对自美进口汽车超额征税

The US will challenge Chinese duties imposed on imported American vehicles, in a counter-strike timed to coincide with Barack's Obama's tour of manufacturing states that will be pivotal in the presidential election.

美国政府将就中国对自美国进口的汽车征收超额关税一事提出诉讼，此举意在回击共和党针对其对华态度的指责。这一诉讼恰逢巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)在制造业州展开竞选巡游。能否赢得制造业州选民的支持对于美国总统竞选至关重要。

The "enforcement action" allows the US to demand formal consultations with China at the World Trade Organisation in Geneva.

通过采取该"强制行动"，美国可要求与中国在世贸组织(WTO)举行正式磋商。世贸组织总部位于日内瓦。

Mitt Romney, Mr Obama's Republican challenger, has accused him of not standing up to China on trade. Mr Obama told crowds in Ohio: "As long as we are competing on a fair playing field, we are doing just fine – and I am going to make sure the competition is fair," China's rise is looming as an important election factor in industrial states, where the Asian giant is often depicted as an unfair trader that is hollowing out local manufacturing.

奥巴马的竞选对手、共和党人米特•罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)此前指责奥巴马在贸易问题上对中国态度不够强硬。奥巴马在俄亥俄州的竞选巡游活动中表示："只要我们是在公平的环境下参与竞争，我们就能够做得不错——而我将确保国际贸易竞争是公平的。"中国的崛起正成为影响制造业州选情的重要因素。在这些州的选民看来，中国作为一个不够公平的贸易对手正在掏空当地制造业。

In a television advertisement tailored for Ohio last month, Mr Romney promised to declare Beijing "a currency manipulator" on his first day in office. A spokeswoman for Mr Romney said: "Candidate Obama may talk a tough game on standing up to China and fighting for American manufacturing, but President Obama just hasn't delivered. China continues to play by its own rules."

在上月专门针对俄亥俄州制作的一条竞选电视广告中，罗姆尼承诺，自己一旦成为美国总统，将立刻把中国列为"汇率操纵国"。罗姆尼的一位发言人表示："四年前作为总统候选人的奥巴马曾承诺会对中国采取强硬立场并努力维护美国制造业的利益，但他在担任总统后却未能兑现承诺。中国现在依然我行我素。"

Both Ohio and neighbouring Michigan depend on the car industry, large parts of which were rescued by the administration in 2009. Mr Romney opposed a bailout of GM and Chrysler, saying they should have gone through bankruptcy procedures for private companies. The Obama administration argues that no private money was available at the time.

汽车业是俄亥俄州和邻近的密歇根州的支柱产业。2009年，奥巴马政府对主要汽车厂商进行了纾困。那时，罗姆尼反对纾困通用汽车(GM)和克莱斯勒(Chrysler)，称两者应走完私营企业的破产程序；而奥巴马政府则认为，当时情境下私人部门资金严重不足。

The US maintains that China imposed the duties without sufficient evidence of wrongdoing and did not substantiate claims of injury to China's industry.

美国在向WTO提出的诉讼中称，中国在对自美国进口的汽车征收超额关税一事上，既缺乏足够证据证明美国汽车企业存在违规行为，也无法证明中国汽车工业受到了损害。