Consider Mr Obama's support for the multilateral trading system. It must be admitted that the Doha round is on hold and Mr Obama could not move it forward even if he so desired. A principal problem is that its completion turns critically on the US making further reductions in its distorting agricultural subsidies. But the issue has become even more difficult with the collapse of commodity prices and hence increases in support payments. Besides, history shows that the freeing of trade is nearly impossible to achieve in times of macroeconomic crisis.
我們仔細(xì)考慮一下奧巴馬對多邊貿(mào)易體制的支持。必須承認(rèn)，多哈回合(Doha Round)貿(mào)易談判目前已被擱置，即使奧巴馬迫切希望推進(jìn)談判，他也無從著手。談判中的一個主要問題在于，其能否完成，在極大程度上取決于美國是否進(jìn)一步削減其扭曲的農(nóng)業(yè)補(bǔ)貼。但由于大宗商品價格出現(xiàn)暴跌，補(bǔ)貼額也因之提高，因此該問題已變得愈發(fā)難以解決。此外，歷史證明，在宏觀經(jīng)濟(jì)處于危機(jī)之時，實(shí)現(xiàn)貿(mào)易自由化幾乎是不可能的。