20世纪30年代美国关税政策与中美贸易

American Tariff Policies and Sino-American Trade in the 1930s

美国的高关税政策是影响20世纪30年代美国对华贸易的重要因素。30年代初,美国一方面反对西方国家的关税政策,要求降低关税;另一方面自己又不断制订各种关税保护法规,提高关税税率,阻碍自由贸易原则的实行。“九一八”事变后,美国对华贸易迅速超过日本,位居各国之首。虽然中美贸易额不断增长,但中国入超也逐年加大,这无疑同关税问题有关。1934年美国的《互惠贸易协定法》的实施是国际贸易的一个转折点,此后中国连续两年对美贸易出超,出超原因是否同美国新关税政策有关是值得研究的。

American high tariff policies were the important factors which affected America's trade with China in the 1930s. At the beginning of the decade, the United States, on the one hand, clamored against the tariff policies of Western countries, and asked them to reduce tariffs. On the other hand, it kept formulating all kinds of regulations of tariff which raised its own tariffs and hindered the implementation of the free trade principle. After the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1932, the U. S. overtook Japan in its trade with China and became China's number one trade partner. Although the total volume of Sino-American trade kept increasing, the trade deficit of China was also increasing, which obviously had to do with the issue of tariff. The Reciprocal Trade Agreement of the United States in 1934 was a turning point affecting the international trade. For two consecutive years, China had a trade surplus with the United States. Whether this surplus was related to the new tariff policies of the United States is worthwhile topic of research.