America Is Sliding Toward Chinese-Style Capitalism
美国正在向中国式的资本主义滑动

The problem, as both the TikTok and U.S. Steel affairs show, is that the national interest is constantly being redefined to fit the political priorities of the day.
问题在于，正如TikTok和美国钢铁事件所展示的那样，国家利益不断被重新定义以适应当今的政治优先事项。

While the U.S. has never been a laissez-faire paradise, more than other countries it believed in free-market capitalism and let efficiency and profits determine the allocation of capital.
虽然美国从未是一个自由放任的天堂，但相对于其他国家，它更相信自由市场资本主义，并让效率和利润决定资本的配置。

Neither Donald Trump nor President Biden believe in that. Both are happy to use all the levers of the federal government, whether taxes, subsidies, regulations or the bully pulpit, to tilt business decisions toward their own vision of the national interest.
无论是唐纳德·特朗普还是拜登总统都不相信这一点。两者都乐意利用联邦政府的各种手段，无论是税收、补贴、监管还是权威演讲，来倾斜商业决策以符合他们对国家利益的理解。

When the House of Representatives voted to force the sale or ban of TikTok, the short-video app owned by Beijing-based ByteDance, China’s Ministry of Commerce demanded, according to Xinhua, that the U.S. “earnestly respect the market economy and the principle of fair competition, and provide an open, fair, just and nondiscriminatory environment for enterprises from all countries.”
当美国众议院投票要求强制出售或禁止北京字节跳动所有的短视频应用TikTok时，中国商务部要求美国“真诚尊重市场经济和公平竞争原则，为来自各国的企业提供开放、公平、公正和非歧视性的环境。”

Either irony is dead, or the Chinese Communist Party has a subversive sense of humor. Its entire economic model revolves around selectively flouting principles of the market economy and fair competition, including by systematically discriminating against foreign enterprises. China’s state capitalism has so effectively tilted the international playing field in its own favor that it has forced others, including the U.S., to adopt their own versions of state capitalism.
要么讽刺已经死了，要么中国共产党有一种颠覆性的幽默感。它的整个经济模式都围绕着有选择地违背市场经济和公平竞争原则，包括系统性地歧视外国企业。中国的国家资本主义已经如此有效地使国际竞争场地向自己倾斜，以至于迫使其他国家，包括美国，采取了自己的国家资本主义版本。

Trump was an early convert to state capitalism, albeit a somewhat personal, ad hoc kind. He browbeat one company into keeping a factory open instead of moving it to Mexico. He used trade policy to punish foreign competitors and favor American companies.
特朗普很早就成为了国家资本主义的拥趸，尽管方式有些个人化、临时性的。他曾强迫一家公司保持其工厂的运作，而不是将其搬到墨西哥。他利用贸易政策惩罚外国竞争对手，支持美国公司。

At the request of

, Trump’s Commerce Department hit Canada’s with crippling tariffs. This forced it to sell control of a new regional jet, whose production soon moved to Alabama from Canada.
应波音公司的要求，特朗普的商务部对加拿大庞巴迪公司实施了毁灭性的关税。这迫使庞巴迪公司出售了一款新的地区喷气机的控制权，其生产很快从加拿大转移到了阿拉巴马州。

Claiming the U.S. military needed a domestic source of steel, Trump imposed tariffs on imports of the metal—from military allies. In 2020, he tried, and failed, to force the sale of TikTok to American investors.
声称美国军方需要国内钢铁供应，特朗普对进口钢铁征收关税，包括来自军事盟友的进口。2020年，他试图并未能强迫将TikTok出售给美国投资者。

Trump has now decided that Chinese ownership of TikTok is less of a threat to the public than

, which suspended Trump’s account after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Earlier this month, he came out against banning TikTok, before demurring—instantly weakening Republican support for a sale or ban.
特朗普现在决定，与2021年1月6日国会骚乱后暂停特朗普账户的Facebook相比，中国对TikTok的所有权对公众的威胁较小。本月早些时候，他反对禁止TikTok，但随后犹豫不决，立即削弱了共和党对出售或禁止的支持。

Biden has pursued a less personal, more refined version of state capitalism with two stated aims: promoting domestic manufacturing and green energy, and safeguarding national security by restricting the export of sensitive technology and knowledge.
拜登追求一种较为个人化、更加精细的国家资本主义模式，其两个明确目标是：促进国内制造业和绿色能源发展，并通过限制敏感技术和知识的出口来维护国家安全。

In practice, these have become the same thing. When every microchip has a military and civilian application and any database can become a channel of foreign influence, then even cargo cranes are fair game.
实际上，它们已经成为同一件事。当每个微芯片都有军用和民用的应用，任何数据库都可能成为外国影响的渠道时，甚至集装箱吊机也是公平竞争的对象。

And when Biden last week declared his opposition to Japanese steel giant

’s proposed purchase of Pittsburgh-based United States Steel, he showed that his version of state capitalism can be as personal, political and ultimately counterproductive as Trump’s.
拜登上周宣布反对日本钢铁巨头日本制铁公司收购位于匹兹堡的美国钢铁公司，这表明他的国家资本主义版本与特朗普的一样个人化、政治化，最终也是适得其反的。

Biden said U.S. Steel should stay in U.S. hands. But why?
拜登表示美国钢铁应该留在美国手中。但为什么呢？

Nippon’s deep pockets, close relationship with Japanese automakers and expertise making the specialized thin steel for electric-vehicle motors would make U.S. Steel stronger. A Japanese American counterweight to Chinese behemoths would embody Biden’s vision of cooperation among market democracies.
日本的深厚资金实力、与日本汽车制造商的紧密关系以及在制造电动汽车电机专用薄钢方面的专业知识将使美国钢铁公司更加强大。作为中国巨头的日裔美国对抗力量，将体现拜登对市场民主国家间合作的愿景。

But the United Steelworkers doubted Nippon Steel’s commitment to its unionized plants and came out against it. So, too, did senators from the swing states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as Trump. Fearful of losing Pennsylvania voters, Biden joined them. On Wednesday, he got the United Steelworkers’ endorsement.
但是美国钢铁工人工会对日本钢铁公司对其工会化工厂的承诺表示怀疑，并反对该交易。同样，来自俄亥俄州和宾夕法尼亚州摇摆州的参议员以及特朗普也持相同立场。担心失去宾夕法尼亚州选民的拜登也加入了他们。周三，他获得了美国钢铁工人工会的支持。

Biden’s opposition makes it more likely U.S. Steel will be bought on the cheap by Ohio-based steelmaker

, which was outbid last year by Nippon Steel. That would undermine another Biden priority, preventing corporation concentration, since the combined entity would dominate some markets.
拜登的反对意味着俄亥俄州钢铁制造商克利夫兰克利夫斯更有可能以低价收购美国钢铁公司，去年该公司曾被日本钢铁公司超过。这将削弱拜登另一个优先考虑的目标，即防止企业集中，因为合并后的实体将在某些市场占据主导地位。

This isn’t China, and neither Trump nor Biden can simply dictate their preferred outcome to companies. But the expectation that they will try changes how business behaves.
这不是中国，特朗普和拜登都不能简单地向公司下达他们偏好的结果。但是，预期他们会尝试改变企业的行为方式。

Investment isn’t crafted for maximum return but political expedience. Executives avoid saying anything that might offend people in power. The line between state capitalism and crony capitalism blurs as companies seek to defeat their competitors in the corridors of power rather than the market.
投资并非为了最大回报而是出于政治上的便利。高管们避免说出可能冒犯权力人士的任何言论。国家资本主义和裙带资本主义之间的界线变得模糊，因为公司们试图在权力的走廊中击败竞争对手，而不是在市场上。

Having lost in the boardroom, Cleveland-Cliffs set out to kill Nippon Steel’s bid by working with unions and politicians. It also added Ron Bloom, who had previously worked for the United Steelworkers and in the Obama administration, to its board.
克利夫兰悬崖公司在董事会上失败后，决定与工会和政界合作，以阻止日本钢铁公司的竞标。此外，该公司还将之前曾在美国钢铁工人联合会和奥巴马政府工作的罗恩·布鲁姆加入了董事会。

Any buyer of TikTok will presumably have to be acceptable to a future Trump administration. So it isn’t surprising that Trump’s former Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said last week that he was organizing a bid.
任何收购TikTok的买家都必须得到未来特朗普政府的认可。所以特朗普的前财政部长史蒂文·姆努钦上周表示他正在组织一次竞标，这并不令人意外。

As Bill Bishop, who writes a newsletter about China, wrote, “You could not write a better storyline for the Ministry of Propaganda if you tried.”
正如中国时事专栏作家比尔·毕晓普所说：“如果你刻意去编造，恐怕也写不出比这个更好的宣传故事情节。”

Write to Greg Ip at greg.ip@wsj.com
请写信给Greg Ip，邮箱地址为greg.ip@wsj.com。