Vietnam's decision to devalue its currency by 5 per cent last week to protect itself from undervaluation of the Chinese renminbi, and the worried response from Thailand and other Asian countries, suggests the move towards global trade conflict may already be unstoppable. As one group of countries seeks to gain or maintain trade advantage by manipulating their currencies, the historical precedent suggests that countries that are not able to devalue will respond with trade protection, especially tariffs and other barriers, and global trade will suffer.
上周，越南決定將本幣貶值5%，以保護自己免受人民幣匯率低估的影響，泰國及其它亞洲國家對此的反應十分不安，這些情況說明，全球貿(mào)易沖突的爆發(fā)可能已無法阻擋。歷史經(jīng)驗表明，當一些國家尋求通過操縱本幣匯率以獲得或保持貿(mào)易優(yōu)勢的時候，那些無法對本幣貶值的國家，將以貿(mào)易保護政策（尤其是關稅及其它貿(mào)易壁壘）來應對，從而使全球貿(mào)易蒙受損失。