在马里兰州一场表面上非政治性的活动中，唐纳德·特朗普周二采取了新的举措，将国家的经济现状形容为某种历史奇迹。“这是美国的黄金时代，”这位总统在忽视公众对经济普遍不满的情绪的同时辩称。“我们正在创造没人认为有可能达到的数据。我们正在创造我们国家历史上前所未有的最大经济数据。”这位共和党人没有具体说明他引以为傲的“数据”是哪些，大概是因为他在兜售一种幻觉：没有任何指标能表明2026年取得了前所未有的经济成功。
At an ostensibly nonpolitical event in Maryland, Donald Trump took fresh steps Tuesday to characterize the nation’s economic status quo as some kind of historic marvel. “This is the golden age of America,”the president argued ignoring widespread public dissatisfaction with the economy. “We’re doing numbers that nobody ever thought were possible. We’re doing the biggest numbers economically that we’ve ever done in the history of our country.”
恰恰相反，大多数数据都指向了一个明显令人沮丧的方向，上周糟糕的就业报告就证明了这一点。更糟糕的是，就在总统兜售其虚假说辞的同时，贸易数据也公之于众。
The Republican didn’t specify which of the “numbers” he’s so proud of, probably because he was pitching a delusion: There are no metrics to show any unprecedented economic successes in 2026. On the contrary, most of the data points in a decidedly discouraging direction, as evidenced by last week’s awful jobs report Making matters worse was the trade data that reached the public right around the same time the president was peddling his bogus claims.
《纽约时报》报道称，在执政20个月之后，随着中期选举的临近，特朗普总统正极力证明其政府的经济政绩。但他曾将其政策视为重要衡量标准的一个指标，却一直在错误的方向上稳步前行。
The New York Times reported After 20 months in office and with the midterm elections approaching, President Trump is at pains to demonstrate his administration’s economic wins. But one metric he has identified as an important measuring stick for his policies has been moving steadily in the wrong direction.
美国商务部周二公布的数据显示，美国贸易逆差（衡量该国进口与出口之间差额的指标）在继7月份大幅上升之后，8月份再度急剧上升，创下17个月来的最高纪录。
The U.S. trade deficit — a measure of the difference between what the country imports and what it exports — rose sharply in August to hit a 17-month high, after also rising significantly in July, data from the Commerce Department showed Tuesday.
最新数据显示，贸易逆差扩大了14%，经季节性调整后总额达到约1060亿美元，创下自2025年3月白宫实施失败的“解放日”贸易关税前夕以来的最大逆差。目前的贸易逆差规模已经超过了乔·拜登总统任内的任何时期。
According to the latest data, the trade gap widened by 14%, reaching a seasonally adjusted total of roughly $106 billion which is the widest gap since March 2025 in the run-up to the White House’s failed “Liberation Day” trade tariffs. The trade deficit is now larger than at any time during Joe Biden’s presidency.
现在，有些读者可能会通过 Bluesky 平台给我发消息，表达他们的不满，认为贸易逆差其实并没有那么严重。我愿意承认他们的观点。事实上，我一直认为人们对贸易逆差重要性的夸大其实是有道理的。
Now, some readers may be tempted to send me annoyed messages via Bluesky, telling me that trade deficits aren’t all that significant. I will gladly concede the point. In fact, I’ve long argued that the importance of trade deficits has been exaggerated.
然而，最新的数据确实引起了我的注意——因为这个问题的重要性已经被广泛关注了。《纽约时报》的报道指出，特朗普政府将贸易逆差视为美国制造业疲软的象征。的确，特朗普推行关税政策的一个核心原因就是为了减少贸易逆差，这一直是白宫的重要经济目标之一。
The latest data struck me as notable, however, because of the importance has placed on the issue. The Times’ report noted that the Trump administration “has viewed the metric as a sign of weakness in America’s manufacturing sector.”Indeed, one of central reasons Trump launched his tariffs agenda in the first place was to reduce the trade deficit, making it one of the White House’s key economic goals.
然而，在特朗普的第一任期内未能实现减少贸易逆差的目标后，新的证据表明他在第二任期内同样未能取得成功。
And yet, after the president failed to shrink the trade deficit in his first term there’s fresh evidence that he’s failing again in his second term.
换句话说，正是特朗普自己强调贸易逆差的重要性；而如今，他的经济政策不仅未能达到预期目标，反而失败了——这不仅是以独立的标准来看，也是以他自己设定的标准来看的。
In other words, Trump is the one who said this is a metric that matters, and he’s failing, not by independent standards, but by standards.
文章标题：随着美国贸易逆差的扩大，特朗普的经济政策正在按他自己的标准失败（As U.S. trade deficit widens, Trump’s economic agenda is failing on his own terms）
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