When Wilbur Ross fired the first shot in a transatlantic trade war this week by imposing tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the EU, Canada and Mexico, there was an irony embedded in the logistics. The US commerce secretary was in Paris, so he had to pick up a phone at the OECD and call reporters back in Washington to announce his action. The former financier detailed the US’s plans to punish its traditional allies while sitting in an institution born out of the Marshall Plan that still stands as a pillar of the US-led post-second world war order.
上周，当威尔伯•罗斯(Wilbur Ross)对来自欧盟(EU)、加拿大和墨西哥的进口钢铝产品加征关税从而打响跨大西洋贸易战的第一枪时，整个过程充满了讽刺意味。这位美国商务部长当时身处巴黎，他不得不拿起经合组织(OECD)的电话，向华盛顿的记者们宣布他的行动。这位前金融家详述了美国准备惩罚其传统盟友的计划，可他却坐在一个诞生于“马歇尔计划”(Marshall Plan)的机构中；该机构仍是美国领导的二战后秩序的支柱。