纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英美国颁布电动汽车税收抵免新规对中国供应商加以限制

The Biden administration proposed new rules on Friday aimed at shifting more production of electric vehicle batteries and the materials that power them to the United States, in an attempt to build up a strategic industry now dominated by China.

上周五，拜登政府颁布新规，旨在将更多电动汽车电池及其原材料的生产转移到美国，以求逐步增强一个目前由中国主导的战略性产业。

The rules are meant to limit the role that firms in China can play in supplying materials for electric vehicles that qualify for federal tax credits. They will also discourage companies that seek federal funding to build battery factories in the United States from sourcing materials from China or Russia.

这些规定意在限制中国企业在符合联邦税收抵免资格的电动汽车材料供应上的参与，同时还将阻止寻求用联邦资金在美国开设电池厂的企业从中国或俄罗斯采购原料。

The rules could encourage shifts in automotive supply chains, which continue to rely heavily on China for materials and components of electric vehicles. Automakers are also facing intense cost pressures as they try to modify their factories to make electric cars, and China offers some of the most advanced and lowest-priced battery technology in the world.

新规可能推动汽车行业供应链的转变，目前它们仍严重依赖中国的电动汽车材料和零部件。试图改建工厂来生产电动汽车的汽车制造商也面临巨大的成本压力，而中国的一些电池技术无论在性能和价格上都居于领先地位。

The Biden administration is trying to use billions of dollars in new federal funding to change that dynamic and create a U.S. supply chain for electric vehicles.

拜登政府正试图重新投入数以十亿计的联邦资金来改变这种现状，打造属于美国的电动汽车供应链。

The climate law that President Biden signed in 2022 includes up to $7,500 in tax credits to consumers who buy electric vehicles made in the United States using largely domestic materials. The law also included a general ban on Chinese products. Lawmakers mandated that firms in China, Russia, North Korea and Iran be prohibited from providing certain materials to cars that received those tax breaks.

拜登总统在2022年签署的气候法案包括向购买主要使用美国材料并在美国制造的电动汽车的消费者提供最高7500美元的税收抵免。该法案还包括全面禁用中国产品。议员们要求获得减税资格的汽车不得采用中国、俄罗斯、朝鲜和伊朗企业供应的部分材料。

But the law left open several questions, including what constitutes a Chinese or Russian company. Administration officials said those definitions included any entity that was incorporated or had headquarters in China or Russia, as well as any firm in which 25 percent of the board seats or equity interest was held by Chinese or Russian governments.

但该法案留下了一些悬而未决的问题，比如对中国和俄罗斯企业的定义。拜登政府官员表示，这包括在中国或俄罗斯注册成立或设有总部的一切实体，以及中国或俄罗斯政府持有25%董事会席位或股权的任何企业。

Chinese companies that set up operations outside China appear to be able to benefit from the rules as long as the Chinese government is not a significant shareholder. That provision came as a relief to some automakers, which feared that the Biden administration might bar them from contracting with Chinese-owned mines or factories in the United States or other parts of the world.

只要大股东不是中国政府，在境外开展业务的中国企业似乎就可以从新规中受益。这一条款让部分汽车制造商如释重负，因为他们担心拜登政府可能禁止其与位于美国或世界其他国家的中资矿山或工厂签订合约。

The law also requires battery makers that strike contracts or licensing agreements with Chinese firms to ensure that they are retaining certain rights over their projects. That provision is intended to make sure a Chinese firm is not effectively in control of such a project.

该法案还要求电池生产商与中国签订合约或授权协议，以保证对其项目保留某些权利。这一条款旨在确保中国企业不能实际控制此类项目。

Some conservative lawmakers had challenged Ford Motor’s plans to license technology from the Chinese battery giant known as CATL for a plant in Marshall, Mich., arguing that such a partnership should not be eligible for federal tax credits.

一些保守派议员曾对福特汽车为其密歇根州马歇尔工厂获取中国电池巨头宁德时代的技术授权提出质疑，称此类合作不应该有资格享受联邦税收抵免。

Some Republican lawmakers suggested on Friday that the Treasury Department’s guidance did not go far enough to lessen the country’s dependence on China.

有共和党议员在上周五指出，财政部给出的指导方针仍不足以缓解美国对中国的依赖。

“At a time when China is using massive subsidies to undercut U.S. manufacturers and throttle the global market for battery components, Treasury’s naïve new regulations would open the floodgates for American tax dollars to flow to Chinese companies complicit in trade violations and forced labor abuses,” said Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

“在中国利用巨额补贴打压美国制造商并牢牢掌控全球电池组件市场之际，财政部这些天真的新规将打开闸门，让美国税款流向参与违规贸易和强迫劳动的中国企业，”中共问题特设委员会主席、威斯康辛州众议员迈克·加拉格尔说道。

The rules kick in for battery components in 2024, and in 2025 for critical minerals like lithium, cobalt and nickel. They could be adjusted depending on industry comment.

关于电池组件的新规将于2024年生效，针对锂、钴和镍等关键矿产的新规则在2025年生效。这些规定均可能依据行业反馈得到调整。

The rules could have a profound impact on the U.S. electric vehicle market, which is rapidly growing — battery-powered vehicles made up about 8 percent of new cars sold in the third quarter. Car and battery makers said Friday that they were still reviewing the rules, and that it would take time to determine how many models would qualify for tax credits.

这些规定可能对正在迅速增长的美国电动汽车市场产生深远影响，今年第三季度，美国电动汽车占到新车销量的8%左右。汽车制造商和电池生产商上周五表示，他们仍在审阅新规，需要时间来确定有多少车型能够获得税收抵免。

Tesla said on Friday that the two least expensive versions of its Model 3 sedan would qualify for only half the $7,500 credit starting in January. The Model Y sport utility vehicle also might not qualify for the full credit after Dec. 31, Tesla said. The Model Y and Model 3 are the top two electric vehicles by sales in the United States. Tesla buys some batteries from CATL.

特斯拉周五表示，从明年1月开始，两款价格最低的Model 3轿车只能获得7500美元减免额度的一半。12月31日后，Model Y运动型多用途车可能也无法获得全额补贴。Model Y和Model 3是美国销量最高的两款电动汽车。特斯拉向宁德时代采购了部分电池。

John Bozzella, the chief executive of Alliance for Automotive Innovation, wrote in a blog post Friday that the rules struck “a pragmatic balance,” including by exempting trace materials. If the administration had banned all minor Chinese parts from the supply chain, no car models might have qualified for tax credits next year, he said.

上周五，汽车创新联盟首席执行官约翰·博泽拉在一篇博客中写道，这些新规实现了“务实性平衡”，包括对痕量材料的豁免。他说，如果拜登政府禁止所有中国制造的小型零部件进入供应链，明年恐怕没有任何车型能够享受到税收抵免。

Many cars have already been disqualified from purchase credits by other rules, like a requirement that vehicles be assembled in North America. Only about 20 vehicles currently qualify for the program out of more than 100 electric vehicles sold in the United States.

诸如车辆必须在北美组装等其他规定已经导致许多车型失去了购置优惠。目前在美国销售的100多款电动汽车中，只有大约20款符合要求。

The rules also raised new questions about whether stricter requirements for supply chains could continue a trend of driving more shoppers to lease, rather than buy, vehicles.

这些规定还带来了新问题，即对供应链的更严格要求是否将继续推动消费者更愿租车而非买车的趋势。

The prohibition on sourcing from China applies only to vehicles that are sold, not to those that are leased. Consumers can receive tax credits for electric vehicles they lease from auto dealers, and that has led to a boom in E.V. leasing.

针对中国采购的禁令仅适用于销售用途的车辆，与租赁用途无关。消费者从汽车经销商处租赁电动汽车照样可以获得税收抵免，这也促进了电动车辆租赁市场的繁荣。

Jack Fitzgerald, chairman of Fitzgerald Auto Malls, which operates dealerships in Florida, Maryland and Pennsylvania, said he had seen a spike in customers leasing electric vehicles. But he said concern about electric vehicle range and the availability of chargers, more than price, was holding back electric vehicle sales.

菲茨杰拉德汽车商城是在佛罗里达州、马里兰州和宾夕法尼亚州设点的经销商，该公司总裁杰克·菲茨杰拉德表示，他已经看到电动汽车租赁客户的激增。但他表示，阻碍电动汽车销售的与其说是价格，不如说是对其续航里程和充电桩可用性的担忧。

“That’s the principal thing,” Mr. Fitzgerald said.

“这是最主要的因素，”菲茨杰拉德说。

Auto industry lobbyists have warned that extremely strict rules could stifle electric vehicle sales, and they have urged the administration to strike more trade deals to secure supplies of scarce battery minerals. But Paul Jacobson, the chief financial officer of General Motors, said the company had structured its electric vehicle operations to be successful regardless of the federal rules.

汽车行业说客警告称，过于严格的规定可能打压电动汽车的销售，他们敦促拜登政府达成更多贸易协定，以确保稀缺电池矿物的供应。但通用汽车首席财务官保罗·雅各布森表示，无论联邦法规如何，该公司电动汽车业务的规划都能取得成功。

“We’re not anchoring the business on saying this has to happen” with regard to regulations, Mr. Jacobson told reporters on Thursday. If regulations change, he added, “it’s not a backbreaking thing for us.”

雅各布森上周四告诉记者，对于监管规定，“我公司并没有在业务上押注这一定会发生”。他还表示，法规若是变动，“也不会给我们造成重负”。

While the rules may create headaches for automakers, they are likely to benefit companies planning to supply batteries from factories in the United States.

虽然新规可能会让汽车制造商感到头疼，但也很可能使计划从美国工厂获得电池供应的企业受益。

“It’s actually good news for us,” said Siyu Huang, chief executive of Factorial, a Massachusetts company that is developing next-generation electric vehicle batteries with support from Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and Stellantis, the owner of Dodge, Jeep and Ram.

“这对我们来说其实是个好消息，”Factorial首席执行官黄思宇（Siyu Huang，音）表示，这家位于马萨诸塞州的公司正在奔驰、现代以及斯特兰蒂斯（拥有道奇、吉普和公羊等品牌）的支持下研发下一代电动汽车电池。

Acquiring large amounts of lithium, an essential ingredient in batteries, could be difficult because most of the metal is processed in China, Ms. Huang said. But the rules will encourage investment in U.S.-based refineries, she continued. “Its definitely going to be another incentive to build more domestic supply,” Ms. Huang said.

黄思宇表示，锂是电池制造的最重要材料，但大量获取可能比较困难，因为大部分锂都在中国进行加工。她仍表示，新规将鼓励对美国精炼厂的投资。“这肯定会成为丰富国内供应环节的额外动力，”黄思宇说。

John DeMaio, chief executive of Graphex Technologies, which is building a factory in Michigan to process graphite for batteries, said the rules might temporarily slow electric vehicle sales by making it harder to qualify for the tax credit. But in the long run, he added, they will encourage investment in domestic suppliers.

Graphex Technologies公司正在密歇根建造一处电池用石墨加工厂，其首席执行官约翰·德马约表示，新规提高了税收抵免的门槛，因而会暂时遏制电动汽车的销售。但他补充称，从长远看，这些规定将鼓励对国内供应商的投资。

“It might be a hiccup,” he said, “but in general it provides certainty and clarity to get people off the fence.”

“这可能只是个小问题，”他说，“总的来说，它还是提供了确定性和清晰度，足以让行业下定决心了。”

Wally Adeyemo, the deputy secretary of the Treasury Department, said in a briefing with reporters that the rules would help advance the administration’s goals of building up an American clean energy supply chain while also cutting emissions in the transportation sector.

财政部副部长沃利·阿德耶莫在简报会上向媒体表示，这些规定将有助于推进拜登政府打造美国清洁能源供应链的目标，同时减少交通运输部门的排放。

“These changes take time, but companies are making the investments and Americans are buying these cars,” he said.

“这些变化需要时间，但企业都在进行投资，美国民众也在购买这些汽车，”他说。

Over the past year, companies have invested $213 billion in the manufacturing and deployment of clean energy, clean vehicles, building electrification and carbon management technology in the United States, according to tracking by the Rhodium Group and the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. That is a 37 percent increase from a year earlier.

根据荣鼎咨询和麻省理工学院能源及环境政策研究中心的统计，过去一年，企业已在美国投资2130亿美元，用于制造和部署清洁能源、清洁汽车、建筑电气化和碳管理技术。这比去年同期增加了37%。

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尽管如此，全球电动汽车产业仍在很大程度上依赖于中国，中国是世界上最大的电动汽车生产国和出口国。中国的电池组生产量约占全球的三分之二，并掌握了绝大部分为电动汽车提供动力的关键矿物的精炼。

Still, the global electric vehicle industry remains heavily anchored in China, which is the world’s largest producer and exporter of electric vehicles. China produces about two-thirds of the world’s battery cells, and refines most of the minerals that are key to powering an electric vehicle.

新规还对汽车制造商从俄罗斯采购电池所需的镍进行了限制。俄罗斯是全球最大的镍生产国之一。

The rules also restrict automakers from sourcing nickel used in their batteries from Russia, which is one of the world’s largest nickel producers.

如何开发出能在漫长且往往不透明的供应链中追踪所有电池元件来源的系统，将成为各家制造商的一大挑战。

One of the challenges for automakers will be developing systems to track all the components of their battery through a long, and often opaque, supply chain.

财政部表示，申报有误的车型将从汽车制造商的整体税收抵免资格中扣除，欺诈或故意无视规定则可能被剥夺未来的税收抵免资格。