After China unveiled steep retaliatory tariffs on American exports on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent issued a sharp and somewhat surprising response: “So what?”

中国周三宣布对美国出口征收高额报复性关税后，美国财政部长斯科特·贝森特做出了一个多少有些出人意料的尖锐回应：“那又怎样？”

The question underscored the Trump administration’s argument that America has the upper hand in a trade war with China given how reliant its economy is on exports to the United States.

这个问题凸显了特朗普政府的观点——鉴于中国经济对美国出口的依赖程度，美国在与中国的贸易战中占据上风。

The United States buys far more goods from China than China buys from the United States. But Beijing’s decision to retaliate against President Trump’s punishing tariffs by raising levies on American imports to 84 percent could sting more than Mr. Bessent let on.

美国从中国购买的商品远远超过中国从美国购买的商品。但北京决定对特朗普总统的惩罚性关税进行报复，将美国进口商品的关税提高到84%，此举造成的打击可能不像贝森特说的那么轻巧。

“American companies that have been selling to China, and have been enormously successful doing that, are not going to be able to do that because of Chinese retaliation,” Sean Stein, the president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said in the hours before Mr. Trump ratcheted up his tariffs again.

美中贸易全国委员会会长肖恩·斯坦在特朗普再次提高关税的几个小时前说，“那些一直向中国销售产品并取得巨大成功的美国公司将因为中国的报复而无法再向中国销售。”

“Tariffs on the Chinese side and the U.S. side cover everything,” Mr. Stein added, meaning everything from aviation to medical imaging to agriculture would be affected and “trade is going to slow,” he said.

“中国和美国的关税涵盖了所有领域，”斯坦还说，这意味着从航空到医疗成像再到农业的所有领域都将受到影响，“贸易将会放缓，”他说。

The United States exported $143.5 billion of goods to China last year and imported $438.9 billion from that country, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

根据美国贸易代表办公室的数据，去年美国向中国出口了1435亿美元的商品，从中国进口了4389亿美元的商品。

The loss of China as an export market will deal a particularly hard economic blow to agricultural workers in many red states, hitting many of the voters who helped Mr. Trump win the presidential election. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump ratcheted U.S. tariffs on China even higher as he initiated a pause on “reciprocal” tariffs that he had imposed on other countries. The reprieve offers little relief for farmers who are concerned that a protracted trade war with China will cut off ties with their largest export market.

失去中国这个出口市场将对许多红州的农业劳动者造成特别沉重的经济打击，许多帮助特朗普赢得总统选举的选民也将受到打击。周三，特朗普在暂停对其他国家征收“对等”关税的同时，进一步提高了对中国的关税。对于那些担心与中国旷日持久的贸易战将切断其最大出口市场的农民来说，暂缓征税的决定起不到多少安慰的作用。

The first trade war with China, which lasted from 2018 to 2019, resulted in billions of dollars of lost revenue for American farmers. To help offset the losses, Mr. Trump handed out $23 billion in subsidies from a fund that the Department of Agriculture created to stabilize the farm sector. Large farm operations and farmers in the South benefited the most, fueling concerns about fairness and leaving some farmers feeling cheated.

与中国的第一次贸易战从2018年持续到2019年，导致美国农民损失了数十亿美元的收入。为了帮助抵消这些损失，特朗普从农业部为稳定农业部门而设立的一个基金中拿出了230亿美元的补贴。南方的大型农场和农民受益最大，这加剧了人们对公平的担忧，让一些农民感觉受到了欺骗。

The soybean industry is one of the sectors most concerned about the current tariff retaliation. China is America’s largest soybean export market, but when Mr. Trump imposed tariffs on Chinese goods during his first term, Beijing retaliated by buying soybeans from other countries, including Brazil.

大豆产业是对当前关税报复最为担忧的行业之一。中国是美国最大的大豆出口市场，但当特朗普在第一个任期内对中国商品征收关税时，北京通过从包括巴西在内的其他国家购买大豆进行报复。

“If this lasts long term, we’re going to have a significant number of farmers going out of business,” said Caleb Ragland, a Kentucky farmer who is president of the American Soybean Association. “We still bear scars from the last trade war.”

“如果这种情况长期持续下去，我们将会有相当数量的农民破产，”美国大豆协会主席、肯塔基州农民迦勒·拉格兰说。“我们身上还留着上次贸易战留下的伤疤。”

The American Soybean Association has been urging the Trump administration to strike a new trade deal with China to avoid a long-term trade war.

美国大豆协会一直敦促特朗普政府与中国达成一项新的贸易协议，以避免长期的贸易战。

U.S. corn farmers, who sell about 2 percent of their products to China, have also been on edge about the trade fight. They welcomed Mr. Trump’s decision to pause punishing tariffs on other countries that could have led to more retaliation on farmers and other American businesses. But they urged the Trump administration to focus on negotiations that open up market access.

美国的玉米种植者也对贸易战感到不安，他们的玉米产品约有2%销往中国。他们欢迎特朗普暂停对其他国家征收惩罚性关税的决定，因为惩罚性关税可能导致对农民和其他美国企业的更多报复。但他们敦促特朗普政府把重点放在开放市场准入的谈判上。

“The longer that uncertainty exists, the more concerned we become that our growers could harvest billions of bushels of corn for which they will not have reliable markets,” said Kenneth Hartman Jr., president of the National Corn Growers Association. “Our farmers want certainty that our customers at home and abroad will buy our products in the months and years ahead.”

“这种不确定性存在的时间越长，我们就越担心，我们的种植者可能会收获数十亿蒲式耳的玉米，但却没有可靠的市场，”全国玉米种植者协会主席小肯尼斯·哈特曼说。“我们的农民希望确保我们的国内外客户将在未来数月乃至数年内购买我们的产品。”

Anxiety over the impact of the tariffs was evident on Wednesday as Jamieson Greer, the U.S. trade representative, testified before the House Ways and Means Committee and faced questions from Republicans who were nervous about retaliation from other countries against U.S. farm exports.

周三，美国贸易代表贾米森·格里尔在众议院筹款委员会作证时，担心其他国家对美国农产品出口进行报复的共和党人接连发问，关税引发的焦虑由此可见一斑。

Representative Darin LaHood, a Republican from Illinois, said that he appreciated what Mr. Trump was doing to address longstanding trade barriers, but that his constituents were concerned.

伊利诺伊州共和党众议员达林·拉胡德表示，他赞赏特朗普为解决长期存在的贸易壁垒所做的努力，但他的选民感到担忧。

“As I talk to my farmers, there’s a lot of anxiety, a lot of stress, a lot of uncertainty, because when we get into a trade war, usually the first pawn in the trade war is agriculture,” he said.

“当我和我的农民交谈时，他们有很多焦虑，很多压力，很多不确定性，因为当我们进入贸易战时，通常贸易战的第一个棋子是农业，”他说。

Mr. Greer responded that “almost all countries have announced that they’re not going to retaliate” except for China. Indonesia, India and many other countries “have affirmatively said we’re not retaliating,” he added, while some countries, like Vietnam, have unilaterally offered to lower tariffs on U.S. farm products. Mr. Greer did not mention that Europe announced retaliatory measures on Wednesday or that Canada had retaliated against previous rounds of tariffs.

格里尔回应说，除了中国，“几乎所有国家都宣布不会报复。”他还说，印度尼西亚、印度和许多其他国家“肯定地表示，我们不会报复”，越南等一些国家则单方面提出降低对美国农产品的关税。格里尔没有提到欧洲周三宣布了报复性措施，也没有提到加拿大对前几轮关税进行了报复。

Mr. Bessent downplayed the impact of China’s response on Wednesday morning, arguing on the Fox Business Network that the United States exports relatively little to China.

周三上午，贝森特淡化了中国回应的影响，他在福克斯商业台辩称，美国对中国的出口相对较少。

“China can raise their tariffs, but so what?” said Mr. Bessent, who owns as much as $25 million of North Dakota farmland that he must divest.

“中国可以提高关税，但那又怎样？”贝森特说。他在北达科他州拥有一片必须剥离的农田，价值2500万美元。

The retaliation could force the Trump administration to revive the bailouts to American farmers that were offered during the president’s first term.

报复可能会迫使特朗普政府恢复在总统第一个任期内向美国农民提供的救助。

Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, said on Wednesday that such a relief package was being considered and that “everything is on the table.”

农业部长布鲁克·罗林斯周三表示正在考虑这样一个救援方案，“一切都在考虑之中。”

At a White House cabinet meeting on Thursday, Ms. Rollins noted that farmers and ranchers had been struggling because of inflation and were concerned about uncertainty over trade but that they supported Mr. Trump’s economic agenda.

在周四的白宫内阁会议上，罗林斯指出，由于通货膨胀，农民和农场主一直在苦苦挣扎，他们对贸易的不确定性感到担忧，但他们支持特朗普的经济议程。

“Your idea of using tariffs to ensure that we are putting forward and putting America first, no one understands that better than our farmers and our ranchers,” Ms. Rollins said. “The period of uncertainty that we’re in, they know that your vision will move us into an age of prosperity.”

“您想用关税来确保我们前进，把美国放在第一位，没有人比我们的农民和牧场主更了解这一点，”罗林斯说。“在我们所处的不确定时期，他们知道您的愿景将把我们带入一个繁荣的时代。”

Mr. Trump offered little clarity on Thursday about a truce with China, but the president expressed general optimism about the economic relationship.

周四，特朗普没有明确表示与中国的休战，但他对两国的经济关系总体来说表示乐观。

Asked about the potential for a deal with China, Mr. Trump said he expected that “we’ll end up working out something that’s very good for both countries.”

在被问及与中国达成协议的可能性时，特朗普表示，他预计“我们最终会达成对两国都非常有利的协议”。

The president initially hailed the trade deal that he reached with China during his first term as a success, but China ultimately failed to honor promises it had made to buy large quantities of American farm products. Meanwhile, almost all of the tariff proceeds the United States collected during that trade war were used to provide relief to the agriculture industry.

总统最初称赞他在第一个任期内与中国达成的贸易协议是成功的，但中国最终未能履行其购买大量美国农产品的承诺。与此同时，美国在那场贸易战中征收的几乎所有关税收益都被用于向农业提供救济。

Farmers generally resist government handouts, but Mr. Ragland of the American Soybean Association said federal relief might be necessary in this case.

农民通常抗拒政府的施舍，但美国大豆协会的拉格兰说，在这种情况下，联邦救济可能是必要的。

“If we continue to be used as a negotiating tool, and we’re going to be a sacrificial lamb on behalf of the bigger picture, we’re going to have to have an economic package to help us keep the lights on,” he said.

他说：“如果我们继续被当作谈判工具，我们将成为大局的牺牲品，我们将必须有一个经济一揽子计划来帮助我们维持生计。”