美国法律关税追溯规定加剧中美轮胎争端

When a federal appeals court late last year struck down some U.S. tariffs on cheap Chinese imports, Congress acted with unusual swiftness. By the spring, a law was in place to nullify the decision and restore tariffs sought by U.S. manufacturers.

美国一家联邦上诉法院去年底宣布美国对中国输美廉价商品征收的部分关税无效时，美国国会立即采取行动，其迅速程度可谓罕见。不过今年春天，美国就通过了一项法案，宣布法院这一裁决无效，同时恢复了美国制造商力主征收的关税。

One feature of the legislation was eye-catching: Congress made part of the law retroactive. The bill granted the Commerce Department new authority to levy tariffs and backdate them to 2006─even though the court had ruled the agency didn't possess that authority at the time.

这项法案有个引人注目的特点：美国国会赋予了该法的某些部分溯及既往的效力。该法案赋予了美国商务部征收关税并将其追溯到2006年的新权力，尽管那家上诉法院当时裁定，美国商务部并不拥有这项权力。

Now the backdating provision has set the stage for litigation that touches on constitutional questions debated since the 1790s and present-day trade disputes between the world's two largest economies.

这个追溯条款为18世纪90年代起就争论不休的涉宪问题诉讼以及眼下中美这两个全球最大经济体之间的贸易争端埋下了伏笔。

Importers and Chinese producers, supported in some cases by the Chinese government, are arguing that Congress can't rewrite history.

美国进口商和中国生产商（有些生产商受到了中国政府的支持）目前坚持认为，美国国会不能改写历史。

'We think this case should be shocking to everyone,' says Bryan Ganz, the former head of GPX International Tire Corp. The defunct family-owned U.S. business was hit with the tariffs and prevailed in the appeals court decision.

美国轮胎企业GPX International Tire Corp.的前负责人甘兹(Bryan Ganz)说，我们认为此案会令所有人感到震惊。这个现已倒闭的家族式企业当时受到关税一事的冲击，并且在那家上诉法院的裁决中胜诉。

'Once Congress retroactively changed the law, the whole complexion of this case changed,' says Mr. Ganz.

甘兹说，一旦美国国会修改了法律，溯及既往，这个案子的情况就完全变了。

Mr. Ganz says he has run out of money to fund his case. His law firm, Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP, is using funds from other clients including the Chinese government to challenge the constitutionality of the law's retroactive application before the U.S. Court of International Trade in New York, according to a lawyer at the firm.

甘兹说，他已经没钱继续打官司了。美国可达事律师事务所(Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP)的一位律师表示，该律所目前使用的是其他当事人（包括中国政府）提供的资金在位于纽约的美国国际贸易法庭(U.S. Court of International Trade)打官司，挑战这一法案追溯行为的合宪性。代理甘兹诉讼的也是这家律所。

The decision could have a broad impact on tariffs ordered in recent years against roughly two dozen other types of Chinese products, including steel pipe, solar panels, wood flooring and kitchen shelving.

这个决定可能会对近年来美国商务部下令就20多种其它中国输美产品所征收的关税造成广泛影响，这些产品包括钢管、太阳能电池板、木地板和厨架等。

The Constitution states plainly that Congress and the states can't enact ex post facto─or after the fact─laws. But the Supreme Court for more than 200 years has said that not all laws with retroactive effect are unconstitutional. The court has been particularly deferential to retroactive laws on civil matters such as national economic policy.

美国宪法明确规定，美国国会和各州不能颁布溯及既往的法案。但美国最高法院200多年前曾说，并非所有具有追溯效力的法律都不合宪。最高法院对于国民经济政策等民事事务方面有追溯力的法律尤其另眼相看。

'There are cases in which laws may justly, and for the benefit of the community, and also of individuals, relate to a time antecedent to their commencement,' Justice Samuel Chase wrote in a seminal 1798 case, Calder v. Bull.

最高法院大法官蔡斯(Samuel Chase)在1798年卡尔德诉布尔(Calder v. Bull)的经典案例中写道：在有些案例中，法律可以为社会和个人造福且公正的方式溯及该法通过以前的时期。

Titan International Inc., TWI -0.79% a Quincy, Ill., maker of off-road tires that petitioned for the U.S. tariffs, says Congress acted properly to protect American jobs.

伊利诺伊州昆西(Quincy)的越野轮胎制造商Titan International Inc.说，美国国会在保护本国就业方面做出了适当的举措。该公司曾请求美国政府征收关税。

Without the tariffs, 'you'd have nobody in the U.S. today producing any kind of off-the-road tires,' says Titan Chief Executive Maurice 'Morry' Taylor Jr.

Titan的首席执行长泰勒(Maurice "Morry" Taylor Jr.)说，若没有这些关税，美国今天就不会有公司生产任何一种越野轮胎。

Malden, Mass.-based GPX, which had employed 500 North American workers, filed for bankruptcy after the Commerce Department in 2010 began imposing two types of tariffs on off-road tires the company imported from its Chinese manufacturing plant.

位于马萨诸塞州莫尔登(Malden)的GPX以前曾雇佣了500名北美工人，并在中国设有工厂。在美国商务部2010年开始对该公司进口自其中国工厂生产的越野轮胎征收两种关税后，该公司申请破产。

While GPX was sold off in pieces, it continued its legal challenge. In particular, it objected to paying countervailing duties that were imposed to offset the alleged unfair advantage of Chinese producers subsidized by their government.

被拆分出售之际，GPX仍在继续打着官司。该公司尤其反对支付反补贴税。美国征收此税的目的是抵消中国制造商因受中国政府补贴而获得的所谓不公平优势。

GPX said the Commerce Department couldn't apply such duties in a nonmarket economy such as Communist-run China.

GPX说，美国商务部不能针对共产党执政的中国等非市场经济国家征收此种关税。