通用电气反对美国关闭进出口银行

The US risks compounding the mistake it made by not joining a new China-backed Asian infrastructure bank if Republicans in Congress go through with a threat to shut down the country’s export credit agency, GE’s top international executive has warned.

通用电气(GE)国际业务最高主管警告说，如果美国国会中的共和党人兑现关闭美国出口信贷机构的威胁，美国可能会错上加错，这里面的前一个错误指的是美国不加入中国支持的新成立的亚洲基础设施投资银行（Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank，简称：亚投行）。

John Rice, who oversees GE’s international operations as the industrial giant’s vice-chairman, told the Financial Times in an interview he believed that Washington’s decision not to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as a founding member alongside China had been a mistake.

在接受英国《金融时报》采访时，这家工业巨头的副董事长、负责通用电气国际业务的约翰•赖斯(John Rice)表示，他认为华盛顿方面决定不与中国一道作为创始成员国加入亚投行是个错误。

But he said he was also concerned about the current push by Republicans not to renew funding for the US Export-Import Bank, led by president Fred Hochberg, which is due to run out of money in June.

但他表示，他还感到担心的是，共和党人正推动不为美国进出口银行(US Export-Import Bank)提供新的资金。美国进出口银行的行长是弗雷德•霍赫贝格(Fred Hochberg)，该行将于今年6月耗尽资金。

GE, alongside Boeing, is one of the main beneficiaries of Ex-Im financing.

和波音(Boeing)一样，通用电气也是该行融资的主要受益者之一。

“To opt out of AIIB and not reauthorise [the Ex-Im Bank] would send a strong signal to the rest of the world that we are not going to participate entirely,” Mr Rice told the FT.

赖斯告诉英国《金融时报》说：“既选择不加入亚投行，又拒绝给予（美国进出口银行）新的授权，会向世界其他地区释放一个强烈的信号，表示我们不打算全面参与到它们中。

“We would be the only major economy without an export credit agency.”

“我们将成为唯一一个没有出口信贷机构的主要经济体。”

The Republican push to close the bank comes even as most in the party express strong support for the Obama administration’s efforts to close an important trade deal with Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim economies. Republican leaders in Congress have vowed to work to quickly pass a bipartisan bill introduced last week that would give President Barack Obama the “fast-track” authority he needs from Congress to close the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

共和党人正在推动关闭该行，尽管与此同时该党的大多数人表示强烈支持奥巴马(Obama)政府与日本及其他10个环太平洋经济体达成一项重要的贸易协定。美国国会的共和党领导人已承诺要致力于尽快通过上周提出的两党议案。该议案将令国会赋予美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)其所需的“快车道”(fast-track)授权，以达成《跨太平洋战略经济伙伴关系》(TPP)协定。

But that advance has been accompanied by the re-emergence in recent weeks of a debate over Ex-Im Bank’s place in US trade policy that has divided Republicans.

然而，与这一进展相伴随的，却是最近几周另一场争论的再次出现，争论的主题是美国进出口银行在美国贸易政策中到底处于什么位置。这场争论已在共和党内部造成了分歧。

While many centrists in the party support the agency’s reauthorisation, conservative critics argue that it provides unneeded subsidies to big companies such as GE which can easily obtain the export financing they need from private sources.

虽然该党许多中间派人士支持对该行再次授权，但保守派批评人士却声称，该行为通用电气这类大企业提供了不必要的补贴，因为这些企业可通过私人渠道轻而易举地获得所需的出口融资。

The Obama administration narrowly avoided the shutting down of the Ex-Im Bank late last year. But a temporary extension to its funding negotiated then is due to run out in June and prominent Republicans such as Paul Ryan, the former vice presidential candidate who now chairs the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, have vowed to close the bank.

去年，奥巴马政府勉强避免了美国进出口银行的关门。然而，当时磋商达成的临时性延长对该行拨款的决定将于今年6月到期，而多位知名的共和党人已发誓要关闭该行，其中包括前副总统候选人保罗•瑞安(Paul Ryan)。瑞安现在执掌着大权在握的美国众议院筹款委员会(House Ways and Means Committee)。

Mr Rice said the issue was crucial for GE and that if the Ex-Im Bank were to be shut down it was likely to have to shift production of gas turbines and jet engines overseas where it could take advantage of other countries’ export credit agencies.

赖斯表示，这个问题对通用电气至关重要，如果美国进出口银行被关闭，通用电气很可能将不得不把燃气轮机和喷气发动机的生产转到海外，在那里它能够利用其他国家的出口信贷机构。

“Some of those jobs will go away if we elect to build stuff that could have been built in the United States in other countries,” he said.

他说：“如果我们选择在其他国家制造本可在美国制造的东西，一些工作岗位将会流失。”

Hundreds of small and medium enterprises in the US supply GE and their survival in many cases depends on Ex-Im Bank helping to arrange export financing and guarantees, he added.

他补充说，美国有数百家中小型企业为通用电气供货，这些企业的生存在许多情况下依赖于美国进出口银行帮助安排出口融资和担保。

“The idea that Ex-Im is a fat cat support mechanism just is not true,” he said.

他说：“有人认为进出口银行是一种扶持有钱人的机制，这种想法是错误的。”

The issue of trade is also an increasingly strategic one for the United States, Mr Rice said, with the push to finalise the TPP particularly important to solidify the country’s economic influence in Asia.

赖斯说，贸易问题对美国来说也愈发是个战略性问题，推动达成TPP对巩固美国在亚洲的经济影响力格外重要。

“These are going to be growing, important economies,” he said, and the US risked losing a battle for influence with China in the region if it failed to close the deal on the TPP.

他说，“这些经济体将是重要的增长经济体”，如果美国未能就TPP达成协定，它可能会输掉与中国的影响力争夺战。

“I don’t think you have the geopolitical influence unless you have the economic influence,” he said. “I think you need both.”

“除非你拥有经济影响力，否则我不认为你拥有地缘政治影响力。”他说，“我认为两种影响力你都得有。”