Beyond that, there is now a danger of creating a hodgepodge of inconsistent and partial bilateral agreements which may lower tariffs, but which also create new inefficiencies and dizzying complexities. A small electronics shop, for example, in the Philippines might import alarm clocks from China under one free trade agreement, calculators from Malaysia under another, and so on—each with its own obscure rules and mountains of paperwork—until it no longer even makes sense to take advantage of the trade agreements at all. Instead, we should aim for true regional integration.
除此之外，现在还存在着另一种危险性，即五花八门、缺乏一致性和完整性的双边协议。这些协议可能降低一些关税，同时却会导致新的低效率与令人眼花缭乱的复杂规定。例如，在菲律宾的一家小型电子产品商店有可能根据一项自由贸易协议从中国进口闹钟，但根据另一项协议从马来西亚进口计算器，以此类推——每一项协议都有其晦涩难懂的规则并需要准备堆积如山的文件——直至这些贸易协议变得毫无意义，其所能提供的益处不复存在。我们的努力方向应当与之相反，即真正实现地区一体化。
That is the spirit behind the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the so-called TPP, which we hope to outline by the time of APEC in November, because this agreement will bring together economies from across the Pacific—developed and developing alike—into a single trading community.
这就是跨太平洋伙伴关系——简称“TPP”——倡导的精神。我们希望在今年11月亚太经合组织开会时概述它的内容，因为这项协议将汇集整个太平洋地区的各经济体——无论是发达国家还是发展中国家——使之成为一个统一的贸易体。
Our goal for TPP is to create not just more growth, but better growth. We believe the TPP needs to include strong protections for workers, the environment, intellectual property, and innovation. It should also promote the free flow of information technology and the spread of green technology, as well as the coherence of our regulatory system and the efficiency of supply chains.
我们建立跨太平洋伙伴关系的目标不只是要取得更大的增长，还要取得更好的增长。我们认为，跨太平洋伙伴关系需要规定严格的保护工人、环境、知识产权和创新的条款。它还应该促进信息技术的自由流动和绿色技术的推广普及，并提高我们的监管体系的一致性与供应链的效率。
We are working to ensure that the TPP is the first trade pact designed specifically to reduce barriers for small and medium-sized enterprises. After all, these are the companies that create most of the world’s jobs, but they often face significant challenges to engaging in international trade. So, the TPP aims to ensure fair competition, including competitive neutrality among the state-owned and private enterprises.
我们正在努力确保跨太平洋伙伴关系成为专门为中小型企业减少壁垒的第一个贸易协议。说到底，是这些中小型企业创造了世界上大部分就业机会，但它们在国际贸易领域往往面临重大挑战。因此，跨太平洋伙伴关系旨在确保公平竞争，包括在国有企业和民营企业之间的竞争中保持中立。
The idea is to create a new high standard for multilateral free trade, and to use the promise of access to new markets to encourage nations to raise their standards and join. We are taking concrete steps to promote regional integration and put ourselves on a path over time to bring about a genuine Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific.
我们的想法是为多边自由贸易制定一个新的高标准，并以准入新市场的承诺来鼓励各国提高自己的标准和参与其中。我们正在采取具体步骤促进整个地区一体化，使自己逐步走上建立真正的亚太自由贸易区的道路。
实习生：李帅男
