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90
Unit Three
ных товаров и вкладывают свои сбережения в зарубежные
фирмы.
Мировая торговля раст¸т, и е¸ объ¸м увеличивается бы
стрыми темпами. Многочисленные и разнообразные това
ры отправляются из одной страны в другую, иностранные
рынки привлекают производителей товаров, как никогда
раньше, и постепенно снижаются торговые ограничения.
Hа рубеже XX века в международной торговле домини
ровали сырьевые материалы, такие, как пшеница, желез
ная руда, уголь, а также обработанная и необработанная
пищевая продукция. Такого рода продукция составляла,
например, 75% импорта Великобритании. Со временем про
изводство индустриальных стран стало переключаться на
более дорогую конечную продукцию,ивнастоящее время
именно она доминирует в торговых потоках стран. Пос
ле Второй мировой войны произошло снижение торговых
барьеров, что также способствовало увеличению объ¸ма торговли промышленными товарами.
II. Экономисты считают, что государства получают выгоду
скорее от импорта, чем от экспорта. Однако политики придерживаются другой точки зрения и часто убеждают своих
граждан отдавать предпочтение товарам отечественного
производства, чтобы не увеличивать дефицит торгового баланса. Для того чтобы оплатить импорт, страна должна экспортировать природные ресурсы либо товары, которые она
может производить лучше и дешевле других.
Принцип сравнительного преимущества производства то
вара в одной стране по сравнению с его производством в
других странах лежит в основе специализации стран по про
изводству определ¸нных товаров. Специализация зависит от
многих факторов: наличия в стране природных ресурсов, ква
лифицированной или неквалифицированной рабочей силы,
обширных территорий и соответствующих климатических
условий для производства той или иной сельскохозяйствен
ной продукции, развитой инфраструктуры и т.п. Исходя из
этого одни страны производят трудо¸мкие и науко¸мкие
(knowledge-intensive) товары, как, например, Япония, а дру
гие шьют одежду или выращивают экзотические фрукты.
Торговля может успешно развиваться и между странами,
которыенеимеютбольшихразличийвзатратахнапроиз
водство тех или иных товаров. В этом случае главную роль
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TRADE AND INVESTMENT
играют вкусы потребителей, которые готовы платить дорого
за понравившийся им товар. Нельзя исключать и значение
удобного географического расположения торгующих стран.
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III. В современном мире с его высокой конкуренцией в тор
говле правительства стараются защитить своих производи
телей всеми возможными путями. Обычно они прибегают
(to resort to) к таким мерам, как введение высоких тари
фов на импортные товары, которые могут конкурировать
с такими же товарами, произвед¸нными в самой стране,
предоставляют субсидии, особенно производителям сель
скохозяйственной продукции, и вводят импортные квоты,
ограничивающие импорт определ¸нной продукции. Поми
мо односторонних мер страны стремятся заключать дву
сторонние и многосторонние соглашения, регулирующие
торговлю между странами. К ним, например, относится Ге
неральное соглашение по тарифам и торговле (ГАТТ), преемником которого является Всемирная торговая организация (ВТО).
Последние переговоры ГАТТ (Уругвайский раунд) внесли
много нового в урегулирование торговых отношений между странами: были открыты для международной торговли
такие защищ¸нные отрасли экономики, как сельское хозяйство и текстильная промышленность; расширены рамки
торговых правил для предоставления всякого рода услуг;
впервые обратили внимание на защиту интеллектуальной
собственности, авторских прав и патентов. Была также со
здана новая система разрешения спорных вопросов. И если
раньше некоторые страны могли безнаказанно нарушать пра
вила ГАТТ, то теперь они вынуждены подчиняться общим
правилам. Все эти действия направлены на создание каче
ственно новой институциональной над¸жности в отноше
ниях между странами.
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IV. Платежи, получаемые страной за экспорт и расходуе
мые на импорт, отражаются в торговом балансе. Торговый
баланс может быть положительным (благоприятным, когда
экспорт превышает импорт), отрицательным (неблагопри
ятным, когда импорт превышает экспорт) и сбалансиро
ванным.
Развивающиеся страны являются в основном импорт¸рами и импортируют, как правило, промышленные капи
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тало¸мкие товары. Для получения валюты для импорта им
приходится экспортировать сырьевые материалы или сель
скохозяйственную продукцию, перераспределяя е¸ между
потребностями в ней в самой стране и экспортом. Посте
пенно развивающаяся страна начинает производить свои
промышленные товары и увеличивать собственный капи
тал, и потребность в импорте сокращается.
Торговый баланс составляет часть плат¸жного баланса,
который учитывает все международные операции, осуществ
ляемые страной за определ¸нный период времени. Сделки
заносятся в плат¸жный баланс как кр
ходилипоступлениеденегвстрану,иликакд
означает расход или уход денег из страны. Кр
ется на правой стороне бухгалтерских счетов (an account),
ад
éбет — на левой.
Активы (кр
са должны быть сбалансированными, но на практике это
случается очень редко. Плат¸жный баланс показывает, имеется ли в стране дефицит или избыток плат¸жных средств
и какой сектор экономики этому способствует.
Баланс платежей подразделяется на сч¸т текущих операций и сч¸т движения капитала. Сч¸т текущих платежей включает куплю-продажу товаров и услуг, доходы от инвестиций,
проценты, дивиденды и т.п. Он также включает одностороннюю передачу средств при оказании помощи зарубежным
государствам.
Сч¸т движения капитала отражает перемещение инвес
тиций между странами. Инвестиции могут вкладываться в
физические или материальные активы, например покупку
зданий, земли, оборудования, а также в финансовые акти
вы, например в покупку ценных бумаг. В любом случае они
являются источником получения иностранной валюты для
приобретения импорта.
éдиты) и пассивы (дéбиты) плат¸жного балан-
éдит, что означает при
éдит записыва
Unit Three
éáåò, ÷òî
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Ex. 5. Read and translate the following text. Pay attention to the terms
and make sure you understand them.
While nations as a whole gain from free international trade,
particular industries and producers can be hurt. Then they seek
to improve their position by persuading the government to impose
tariffs or quotas to protect them from the detrimental effects of
free trade.
TRADE AND INVESTMENT
Tariffs are taxes on imported goods; they may be imposed for
purposes of revenue or protection. Revenue tariffs are usually
applied to products which are not produced domestically, for
example, tin, coffee, bananas in the case of the United States.
Their purpose is to provide the Federal government with tax
revenues. Protective tariffs, on the other hand, are designed to
shield domestic producers from foreign competition. Although
protective tariffs are usually not high enough to prohibit the
importation of foreign goods, they put foreign producers at a
competitive disadvantage in selling in domestic markets.
When dumping occurs, governments may impose extra import
tariffs called “anti-dumping duties” on the dumped goods. These
duties are needed to keep foreign producers from “dumping”
goods abroad at less than their cost of production and to protect
domestic firms. Foreign producers dump their excess goods onto
the market of another country at below-market prices in order
to drive out local competitors, increase their share of the market,
obtain monopoly power, and then raise prices.
Import quotas specify the maximum amounts of commodities
which may be imported in any period of time. Frequently, import
quotas are more effective in retarding international commerce
than any tariffs. A given product might be imported in relatively
large quantities despite high tariffs; low import quotas, on the
other hand, completely prohibit imports once the quotas are
filled.
Nontariff barriers refer to licensing requirements, unreasonable
standards pertaining to product quality and safety, or simply
unnecessary bureaucratic red tape in customs procedures. It can
be illustrated by an example of Japan and European countries
which frequently require their domestic importers of foreign goods
to obtain licenses. By restricting the issuance of licenses, imports
can be effectively restricted. Great Britain bars the importation
of coal in this way.
Voluntary export restrictions are a relatively new trade barrier
by which foreign firms “voluntarily” limit the amount of their
exports to a particular country. Voluntary export restrictions, which
have the effect of import quotas, are agreed to by exporters in
the hope of avoiding more stringent trade barriers. Thus Japanese
auto manufacturers agreed to reduce their exports to the United
States under the threat of higher U.S. tariffs or the imposition of
low import quotas.
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Unit Three
It should also be added that the costs of protectionism may
far exceed the benefits. Since tariffs and quotas are embedded in
the prices of goods they are likely to be quite small and may even
go unnoticed. That is why resistance at the grass-roots level to
protectionist measures often is considerably less than pressures
2
for their adoption
.
detrimental пагубный, причиняющий ущерб; revenue tariff фискаль
ный тариф (вводится в целях получения дополнительных отчислений
в бюджет); tax revenues налоговые поступления; protective tariff про
текционистский тариф (вводится в целях защиты отечественных про
изводителей); dumping демпинг (вывоз товаров на внешние рынки по
бросовым ценам); cost of production себестоимость; excess [ik!ses] избы
ток, излишек; anti-dumping duty антидемпинговая пошлина; to retard
сдерживать, замедлять; nontariff barriers нетарифные барьеры; to pertain
иметь отношение, относиться; issuance of licenses выдача лицензий;
voluntary export restrictions добровольные экспортные ограничения;
to be embedded in prices включаться в цены; grass-roots широкие массы.
Ex. 6. The following text will help you to understand how the princi ple
of comparative advantage works. Read it and use it when discussing
the text “Trade and Investment”.
To see how the principle of comparative advantage works, think
about why two countries — call them East and West — might
gain from trading with one another. Suppose, for simplicity, that
each has 1,000 workers, and each makes two goods: computers
and bicycles.
West’s economy is far more productive than East’s. To make
a bicycle, West needs the labour of two workers; East needs four.
To make a computer, West uses ten workers while East uses 100.
Suppose that there is no trade, and that in each country half
the workers are in each industry. West produces 250 bicycles and
50 computers. East makes 125 bikes and five computers.
Now suppose that the two countries specialize. Although West
makes both bikes and computers more efficiently than East, it
has a bigger edge in computer-making. It now devotes most of
its resources to that industry, employing 700 workers to make
computers and only 300 to make bikes. This raises computer output
to 70 and cuts bike production to 150. East switches entirely to
bicycles, turning out 250. World output of both goods has risen.
Both countries can consume more of both if they trade.
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TRADE AND INVESTMENT
At what price? Neither will want to import what it could make
more cheaply at home. So West will want at least five bikes per
computer; and East will not give up more than 25 bikes per
computer. Suppose the terms of trade are fixed at 12 bicycles per
computer and that 120 bikes are exchanged for ten computers.
Then West ends up with 270 bikes and 60 computers, and East
with 130 bicycles and ten computers. Both are better off than
they would be if they did not trade.
This is true even though West has an “absolute advantage”
in making both computers and bikes. The reason is that each
country has a different “comparative advantage”. West’s edge is
greater in computers than in bicycles. East, although a costlier
producer in both industries, is a relatively less-expensive maker
of bikes. So long as each country specialises in products in which
it has a comparative advantage, both will gain from trade.
***
Some critics of trade say that this theory misses the point.
They argue that trade with developing countries, where wages
tend to be lower and work hours longer than in Europe and
North America, is “unfair”, and will wipe out jobs in high-wage
countries.
It is generally accepted that trade with poor countries has
been one of the factors reducing the wages of unskilled workers,
relative to skilled ones, in the United States. That said, the threat
to rich-country workers from developing-country competition is
often overstated.
For a start, it is important not to confuse absolute and
comparative advantage. Even if developing countries were cheaper
producers of everything under the sun, they could not have a
comparative advantage in everything. There would still be work
for people in high-wage countries to do.
Moreover, it is not true that countries with cheap labour always
have lower costs. Wage differences generally ref lect differences
in productivity; companies in low-wage countries often need far
more labour to produce a given amount of output, and must deal
with less efficient communications and transportation systems.
In most cases hourly wages are not decisive in determining where
a product is made.
Suppose that the “fair traders” succeeded in eradicating
international differences in production costs, so that a given
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Unit Three
product cost precisely the same to make in different countries.
In that case, no country, would have a comparative advantage,
and hence there would be no trade. Rich-country workers, who
are also consumers, would lose. What is confusing perhaps, is
that comparative advantage is often the product of history and
chance, not of differences in natural resources or workers’ skills
to have an edge in smth иметь преимущество в ч¸м-либо; terms of trade
условия торговли; to miss the point упустить суть; to wipe out jobs со
кратить рабочие места; a high-wage country страна с высоким уровнем
заработной платы; a low-wage country страна с низким уровнем зара
ботной платы; to overstate преувеличивать; to eradicate искоренять.
Ex. 7. The text describes how in the mid-1990s the United States
waged a trade war against China. Think of any similar situation
in the world at the present time and compare it with the events
in the 1990s. Has anything changed in this respect since that time?
Are economic sanctions an effective measure in solving trade
problems? Do punitive tariffs help? Why do Americans invest in
China so heavily now? And what made China enter the WTO?
The American administration fired the opening salvo of a
trade war with China by imposing punitive tariffs on more than
$1 billion in Chinese goods, the largest trade sanctions in American
history. It warned of further action if the Chinese government
continues its refusal to crack down on rampant piracy of American
software, movies and music.
The decision to impose 100 percent punitive tariffs on goods
ranging from silk blouses to cellular telephones was met almost
immediately by an angry Chinese announcement of tariffs against
American-made goods.
While the tariffs are bound to increase tensions between the
two governments, they are not likely to have a major impact on
U.S. consumers because the many of the goods that will carry
higher prices from China are readily available from other sources.
The trade confrontation comes at a particularly delicate moment
in Chinese-American relations, with disagreements brewing on
human rights and arms control as well and with China’s paramount
leader, Deng Xiaoping, reported to be seriously ill.
But after several meetings at the White House on the United
States’ deteriorating relations with Beijing, administration officials
decided that despite the delicate transition of power presumed
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TRADE AND INVESTMENT
to be under way, there was no reason to delay the sanctions any
longer.
Through the first 11 months of 1994, the United States
imported $36 billion in products from China while exporting
$8.5 billion in American goods there.
Each country said its penalties would take effect in February.
The delay, a common practice in cases of trade sanctions, is
intended to assure that goods shipped before the retaliatory tariffs
were announced would not be affected.
The delay also provides a chance for further negotiations; last
February, the Chinese struck a deal in a textile dispute on the
day when previously announced sanctions were to take effect. But
some American trade officials have speculated that the unsettled
state of the Chinese government leadership may make such
last-minute bargaining less likely this time.
American consumers will be among the first to feel the trade
dispute, as they are any time the government decides to set a
tariff to curtail the sales of another country’s goods. Under the
rules the U.S. Customs Service would be required to put a $100
tax on every $100 Chinese-made bicycle imported to the United
States.
Over the last five weeks, however, American officials have
been pruning the list of products selected for retaliation, targeting
goods produced in several other nations, so American consumers
can choose, for example, a Japanese or British-made bicycle that
is not subject to the tariffs.
They have also avoided products where the tariffs seem
likely to hurt American business, including two of China’s biggest
exports, toys and electronic goods. The decision not to include
toys and electronics came after hearings that convinced the
American officials that so many toys are now produced exclusively
in China that doubling the tariff would harm American retailers
and anger many consumers. Administration officials said they
excluded most electronic components from the list of goods subject
to sanctions after American computer makers were told China
was the main supplier of a huge variety of cables and circuit
boards used in American-made personal computers.
They also said that imposing sanctions on those goods would
only work to the advantage of foreign computer makers. But
other items could be added to the list if China refused to reach a
satisfactory agreement. The U.S. Trade Representative, who formally
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Unit Three
announced the imposition of the tariffs, made it clear that the
list of affected goods had been shaped with an eye toward
minimizing the impact on business in the United States.
The dispute between the United States and China bubbled
along for nearly two years, a period in which the administration
had set aside serious concerns about human rights in China
in the hope of bolstering trade, among other things.
The current dispute has begun to eclipse Washington’s
long-running trade arguments with Japan. In 1994, the American
trade deficit with China climbed to $30 billion — roughly half
the size of the deficit with Japan — and U.S. businesses say
piracy of American intellectual property, particularly copyrighted
material like movies and music, has contributed to the trade
imbalance.
The United States has repeatedly demanded, for example,
that China close 29 factories (many of them state-owned) that
are producing 70 million compact disks and video disks every
year, from illegal copies of famous music hits from movies.
Those goods can be found all over Asia, from the streets of Hong
Kong to many stores in Tokyo.
At the press conference in Washington the U.S. Trade
Representative held up bootleg products purchased around Asia,
including knockoffs of the latest version of Microsoft Corporation’s
personal computer operating system and canned foods bearing
the label “Del Monte”. He said that after 21 negotiating sessions
in the last two years, China still refused to crack down on the
4
production and distribution of such products
.
salvo [!slvou] повод; a punitive tariff карательный тариф; to crack down
(on) серь¸зно отнестись (к чему-либо); rampant piracy неистовое, безу
держное пиратство; cellular telephone сотовый телефон; to brew 1. зава
ривать 2. назревать, надвигаться; penalty санкция, карательная мера;
a retaliatory [ri!t
ïàòü â ñèëó; to curtail сокращать; to prune срезать, сокращать; to be
´bject (to) подлежать (чему-либо); circuit boards модули, платы;
su
to bolster укреплять; to eclipse [i!klips] заслонять, затмевать; to hold up
показывать, предоставлять; bootleg products контрабандные товары;
knockoffs контрафакты, контрафактная продукция; label марка, эти
кетка.
liətəri] tariff карательный тариф; to take effect âñòó
Ex. 8. Read the following text and discuss: (a) why trade liberalisation
presents great opportunities for both developed and developing
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TRADE AND INVESTMENT
nations; (b) why so many countries seek to join the World Trade
Organization; (c) how families and low-income households will
benefit from it.
The events of the past century demonstrate how trade can
deliver tremendous benefits to countries that open their markets
to foreign competition and challenge businesses to sell their goods
and services around the world. The past century also reveals that
there is a high price — economic and political — when support
for free trade withers. This experience points to the importance
of moving forward with trade liberalisation in future.
By opening markets, we can strengthen forces that will help
bind nations and peoples together through the peaceful exchange
of goods, services, capital and ideas. This is one reason why so
many countries have joined the World Trade Organisation in the
past five years.
Building support for free trade and investment with developed
and developing nations is a top priority for the governments.
By moving forward with trade liberalisation we signal that there
is an international coalition for openness and growth that respects
core values. Trade is about more than economic efficiency. It
reflects a system of values: openness, appreciation of differences,
opportunity, integration, freedom of choice, governance through
agreed rules and a hope for the improvement of life for all
peoples.
Trade liberalisation presents the greatest opportunity for
developing nations. They will find that it facilitates greater economic
integration and political co-operation with the developed world.
It will provide them with new investments, production methods
and technologies.
A recent World Bank study examined developing countries
that opened themselves up to global competition, and those that
did not. It concluded that income per person in globalizing,
developing countries grew more than three-and-a-half times faster.
The absolute poverty rates for globalizing, developing countries
has fallen sharply over the past 20 years, while the income levels
of the lowest-income households grew in line with the overall
economy. In the next six years following completion of the
Uruguay round, exports from developing countries grew by nearly
$1 trillion, to a level of $2.4 trillion.
Open trade advances political reform. It swells the ranks of
businesses and can reduce the degree of costly government
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