美国1934年《互惠贸易协定法》及其影响

The Birth of 1934 RTAA and Its Impact

20世纪30年代的经济危机引发了美国学术界关于美国经济自给自足还是经济开放的大辩论,这场辩论推动了美国贸易决策机制的转变,其标志就是1934年美国国会通过《互惠贸易协定法》,从而形成了决定美国贸易政策的"1934年体制"。与此前的美国关税法相比,"1934年体制"的主要特点是国会将贸易决策权在一定时期内授予总统,总统可以与外国政府谈判并签订贸易协定,该协定不需要国会批准即可生效。但是,为了维护总统和国会在宪法上的权力平衡关系,再加上受党派政治斗争的制约,"1934年体制"中也包含了关键性的妥协:国会对总统的授权是"临时性"的,而且总统在谈判贸易协定时必须充分考虑国内企业的贸易保护要求。尽管如此,《互惠贸易协定法》的出台和此后几十年的顺利延期,在一定程度上改变了美国高度保护主义的贸易政策偏好,推动了以关贸总协定为核心的多边关税减让谈判和贸易自由化进程。

The Great Depression in 1930s triggered a great debate about the strategy and role of American foreign economic policy, and the debate precipitated the change of American trade policy decision-making regime which was erected by 1934 RTAA. Compared to the former highly protective tariff acts controlled by the Congress, in the RTAA, the Congress delegated its constitutionally granted power to raise or lower tariff rates to the president in a certain period and withdrew its power to ratify foreign trade agreements. However, the RTAA contained some critical compromises, such as the president＇s delegated power was just temporary, and the president had to take into full consideration the necessity to protect the ment. In spite of that, the birth of RTAA and domestic production before signing a trade agree- its successful extensions thereafter, in some extent changed the traditional American trade protectionism, and provided the foundation for U.S. participation in the several rounds of multilateral tariff-reduction negotiations and trade liberalization under GATr.