去年4月，布鲁塞尔成立了一个鲜为人知的“进口监测工作组”，以追踪美国总统唐纳德·特朗普对华贸易战对欧盟经济的影响。
In April last year, Brussels launched an obscure “import surveillance task force” to track the impact of US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China on the EU economy.
欧盟担心，原本运往美国的中国商品会以更低价格转移至欧洲，从而危及当地制造商。
The bloc was concerned that Chinese shipments bound for the United States would be diverted to Europe at lower prices, imperilling local manufacturers.
18个月后，欧盟正处在对华贸易战的边缘，并正在将该工作组改造成一个预警系统，用于监测其认定的中国商品危险激增现象。
Eighteen months on, the European Union is on the cusp of its own trade war with China and is repurposing the task force as an early warning system for what it sees as dangerous surges in Chinese imports.
欧盟最高贸易执法官员德尼·雷多内周四表示，该系统收集的情报可帮助布鲁塞尔决定在限制中国商品时从哪些领域着手。
The intelligence it gathers could help Brussels decide where to strike when it comes to restricting Chinese goods, Denis Redonnet, the EU’s top trade enforcer, said on Thursday.
这一预警系统的覆盖规模引人注目。雷多内同时也是欧盟对华贸易政策负责人。他向议员表示，该系统发现“欧盟进口商品中近四分之一出现了可能令人担忧的趋势”，其中中国是主要驱动因素。
The scale of the warning is striking. Redonnet, who is also the point person for trade policy on China, told lawmakers that the system was detecting “potentially worrying trends for almost a quarter of all imports into the EU”, with China the main driver.
上周发布的所谓“进口晴雨表”结果标示出902个单独产品类别，其进口量正以异常速度增长，同时价格却在下降。
Results of the so-called import barometer published last week flagged 902 individual product categories in which imports were rising unusually quickly while prices were falling.
机械是受影响的最大类别，共有141条产品线被标示，其次是纺织品116条、基础金属110条和化工产品107条。分析覆盖截至6月的一年。
Machinery was the biggest segment, with 141 product lines flagged, followed by textiles with 116, basic metals with 110 and chemicals with 107. The analysis covered the year to June.
这些也正是欧盟已经或正在考虑启动保障措施调查的行业之一。在进口激增造成损害的情况下，此类调查可使欧盟迅速实施关税和配额。雷多内确认，该工具可帮助确定采取此类行动的案例。
These are also among the sectors in which the EU has or is considering opening safeguard investigations, which would allow it to quickly impose tariffs and quotas in instances of harmful import surges, with Redonnet confirming that the tool could help identify cases for such action.
他告诉欧洲议会贸易委员会：“目前有一些行业，即我们经济中的重要行业，正面临持续且异常的进口增长。”
“There are sectors now, important sectors of our economy, facing sustained and abnormal import increases,” he told the European Parliament’s trade committee.
“我们或许可以设想，在某些情况下依职权启动保障措施调查。”雷多内说。这意味着布鲁塞尔可以在无需等待行业或成员国提出请求的情况下启动调查。“我不能排除这种可能性，但我也不是在宣布这一点。”这些评论正值布鲁塞尔考虑采取新手段，应对进口“晴雨表”所显示的进口激增。多名消息人士证实，欧盟委员会正考虑制定一种工具，允许其在来自中国或其他占主导地位贸易伙伴的进口量于关键领域达到一定水平时，提高相关商品的关税。
“There might be cases where we might envisage an ex officio trigger of safeguard investigation,” Redonnet said, meaning Brussels could launch a case without waiting for industry or a member state to request one. “I cannot exclude it, nor am I announcing it either.”The comments come as Brussels considers new weapons to deal with the surges in imports identified by the barometer. Several sources confirmed that the commission was considering an instrument that would permit it to raise tariffs on goods when imports from China or another dominant trading partner hit a certain level in key sectors.
这种“产能过剩工具”是在一项新的多元化工具之外采取的又一举措。欧盟委员会计划于12月提出这项多元化工具，迫使企业将供应商范围扩大到单一国家之外。
This “overcapacity instrument” comes on top of a new diversification tool, set to be proposed in December, which would compel firms to broaden their pools of suppliers beyond a single country.
周三，欧盟委员会呼吁为这一机制提供证据，并确认将“提出一揽子多元化方案，旨在支持供应链加快多元化，并减少关键领域的依赖”。
On Wednesday, the commission called for evidence for this mechanism, confirming that it would “present a diversification package aimed at supporting faster supply chain diversification and reducing dependencies in critical sectors”.
北京曾威胁要针对任何此类措施采取反制，尤其是任何仿照美国“301条款”关税平台的工具。
Beijing has threatened to retaliate against any such measures, particularly any tool that would mirror the US’ Section 301 tariff platform.
中国商务部周二表示：“如果欧盟一方面同中国开展对话和磋商，另一方面却不断对华展示强硬姿态，这将严重损害双方互信，扰乱整个磋商进程，并影响中欧经贸合作的整体大局。”
“If the EU engages in dialogue and consultation with China on the one hand while ratcheting up a show of strength against China on the other, this will seriously damage mutual trust, disrupt the overall consultation process and affect the broader picture of China-EU economic and trade cooperation,” the Ministry of Commerce said on Tuesday.
与此同时，欧盟领导人正在为本月欧洲理事会峰会上一场关于中国的重要辩论做准备——就在欧盟贸易委员马罗斯·谢夫乔维奇赴北京与其对口官员王文涛会晤仅一周之后。
EU leaders, meanwhile, are gearing up for a crucial debate on China at the European Council summit this month – just a week after EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic travels to Beijing for meetings with his counterpart, Wang Wentao.
周三，法国和西班牙的政治领导人在马德里讨论了对华政策。巴黎一直强烈主张采取有力的贸易行动，而近年来西班牙与北京的关系日益密切。尽管如此，双方淡化了自己在这个问题上的分歧。
On Wednesday, the political leaders of France and Spain discussed China policy in Madrid. Paris has been a strong advocate of forceful trade action while Spain has grown closer to Beijing in recent years. Nonetheless, the sides downplayed their differences on the matter.
“我们必须更好、更快地区保护欧洲工业……从10月开始，我们将把这一点付诸实践。”法国总统埃马纽埃尔·马克龙在与西班牙首相佩德罗·桑切斯共同举行的新闻发布会上说。
“We must protect European industry much better, much faster … from October, we are going to put this into practice,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at a press conference, alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
这位法国领导人指责北京“只是为了淘汰某个行业的参与者并接管整个行业而进行大规模倾销”，并“摧毁我们的工业基础”。
The French leader accused Beijing of “massively dumping just to kill the players in a sector and take over the whole sector” and of “massacring our industrial base”.
桑切斯表示，两国在对华政策上“并没有那么大的分歧”。他说：“相反，这必须成为整个欧洲的共同政策，因为我们的目标是一致的。”
Sanchez said the two countries were “not so far apart” on China policy. “On the contrary, it has to be common across Europe as a whole because our objective is the same,” he said.
桑切斯称，中国的贸易顺差“不可接受，任何经济都无法承受”，但他同时警告，欧盟必须“在一切可能的地方寻求合作，在必要的时候参与竞争，并对分歧进行建设性管理”。
Sanchez described China’s trade surplus as “not acceptable and cannot be borne by any economy”, but cautioned that the EU must pursue “cooperation wherever possible, competition whenever necessary, and the constructive management of disagreements”. By Finbarr Bermingham