谷歌任命前白宫经济学家主管全球游说

Google has chosen a former White House economist to lead its global lobbying operation as it pursues a less confrontational stance in its dealings with governments around the world.

谷歌(Google)选择前白宫经济学家负责其全球游说活动，该公司正寻求以一种不那么对抗的姿态同世界各地的政府打交道。

Caroline Atkinson has been appointed as head of global policy at a time when the world’s biggest internet company is seeking to douse political fires caused by its growing business clout, its impact on personal privacy and other issues.

卡洛琳阿特金森(Caroline Atkinson)被任命为全球政策主管，这家全球最大互联网公司正寻求扑灭其不断增长的商业影响力、对个人隐私的影响及其他问题所引起的政治火情。

Ms Atkinson, a former International Monetary Fund official who is both a UK and US national, is known as a backroom negotiator and conciliator with decades of experience on the international economic stage.

阿特金森曾担任国际货币基金组织(IMF)官员，拥有美国和英国双重国籍，以幕后谈判和调解工作著称，在国际经济舞台上有着几十年经验。

The choice marks a change of tack for Google and a departure from the path chosen by other big internet companies. It follows a backlash against US tech companies in Europe and new tensions in Washington over their refusal to weaken encryption standards that critics claim aid terrorist networks such as Isis.

这一选择标志着谷歌转变策略，告别了其他大型互联网企业所选择的道路。此前美国高科技公司在欧洲遇到强烈反弹，华盛顿也出现新的紧张局面，因为这些公司拒绝弱化加密标准，批评者认为加密技术帮助了“伊拉克和黎凡特伊斯兰国”(ISIS)等恐怖分子网络。

Google suffered a severe setback in Brussels last year after the collapse of a tentative agreement to head off a competition complaint. The hard bargain it drove with the European Commission angered rivals and eventually proved politically unpalatable, leading Brussels to backtrack and hit it with an antitrust indictment last year.

去年，随着与欧盟就避免竞争申诉达成的初步协议破裂，谷歌在布鲁塞尔遭遇严重挫折。谷歌对欧盟委员会(European Commission)的讨价还价激怒了竞争对手，最终被证明在政治上过不了关，导致布鲁塞尔撤回协议，并在去年对谷歌提出反垄断起诉。

Since then it has sought to overhaul its approach to international diplomacy, burying its confrontational stance in favour of a more conciliatory style. The change echoes Microsoft more than a decade ago, after it was hit by a competition complaint in Brussels.

从那以后谷歌开始寻求整改其国际外交方式，舍弃对抗姿态，放软身段。十几年前微软(Microsoft)遭遇布鲁塞尔的竞争申诉后也作出了同样的改变。

A similar switch in Google’s dealings with Wall Street, involving the hiring of Morgan Stanley executive Ruth Porat as chief financial officer last year, has paid dividends, contributing to a strong rally in the stock price of its holding company, Alphabet.

谷歌在应对华尔街的方式上也作出了相同的转变，包括去年聘请摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)高管露丝波拉特(Ruth Porat)担任其首席财务官。这一转变已带来回报，推动谷歌控股公司Alphabet的股票价格强劲上涨。

Ms Atkinson was President Barack Obama’s representative at the G7 and G20 summits and has co-ordinated US policy on issues from global economics and trade to energy and climate change.

阿特金森曾是美国总统巴拉克攠巴马(Barack Obama)在G7和G20峰会上的代表，并曾负责协调美国在全球经济以及贸易、能源和气候变化等问题上的政策。

“Whether she’s negotiating the Treasury or foreign governments, she is calm and determined and gets what she needs,” said Lawrence Summers, former US Treasury secretary.

美国前财长劳伦斯萨默斯(Lawrence Summers)表示：“她无论是与财政部还是外国政府进行谈判时，都非常冷静，而且志在必得。”