US regulators and businesses have spoken out against an antitrust enforcement pushed by Chinese authorities as the issue emerges as a potential new friction point in relations between the world’s two largest economies.

　　Foreign investors in China are increasingly concerned that they are being targeted in official investigations of pricing practices, such as one aimed at baby formula manufacturers earlier this year.

　　“China is wielding its antitrust law in a discriminatory manner targeting foreign companies,” said Jeremie Waterman, executive director for China policy at the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest US business lobby group.

　　In an unusually direct speech in Beijing last month, which raised hopes that US policy makers were giving the issue greater attention, Maureen Ohlhausen, a Republican commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission, said that “political decisions” should have no place in antitrust reviews. The FTC conducts antitrust reviews in the US alongside the justice department.

　　In an interview with the Financial Times, Ms Ohlhausen said there needed to be greater transparency over China’s decisions. “If the Chinese make a decision to impose a remedy or block a deal it can be hard for outsiders to know what was the main motivating factor in that,” she said.

　　Despite Ms Ohlhausen’s intervention last month, US officials have generally been reluctant to confront China over antitrust rules, despite being sympathetic to complaints that deals were being unfairly blocked or approved with tough conditions. The matter has not been raised in bilateral economic and trade talks between Beijing and Washington.

　　Chinese companies and officials have also questioned whether their investments in the US are welcome. US lawmakers used a congressional hearing to raise concerns about Shuanghui’s proposed $4.7bn purchase of Smithfield pork, the largest Chinese takeover of a US company, which is still in the balance.

　　學(xué)習(xí)指南：

　　1.Word of the day

　　antitrust: preventing companies or groups of companies from controlling prices unfairly 反托拉斯的;反壟斷的

　　小編注：托拉斯(Trust)直譯為“商業(yè)信托”，是指在一個行業(yè)(商品領(lǐng)域)中，通過生產(chǎn)企業(yè)間的收購、合并以及托管等等形式，由一家公司兼并、包容、控股大量同行業(yè)企業(yè)來達(dá)到企業(yè)一體化目的的壟斷形式。通過這種形式，托拉斯企業(yè)可以對該行業(yè)市場實(shí)現(xiàn)壟斷，并且通過制定企業(yè)內(nèi)部統(tǒng)一價格等等手段來使企業(yè)在市場中居于主導(dǎo)地位，實(shí)現(xiàn)利潤的最大化。

　　2.Phrase of the day

　　motivating factor ： 激發(fā)因素

　　e.g:The UN's troubled Kyoto treaty on climate change may also be a motivating factor.

　　例句：讓聯(lián)合國苦惱不已的京都?xì)夂蜃兓瘲l約也有可能會成為激發(fā)因素之一。

　　3.Sentence of the day

　　US officials have generally been reluctant to confront China over antitrust rules, despite being sympathetic to complaints that deals were being unfairly blocked or approved with tough conditions.

　　美國官員通常不愿在反壟斷裁決上與中國對抗，盡管他們對不公平地被阻止或以苛刻條件獲得批準(zhǔn)的交易的投訴持同情態(tài)度。

　　小編注：sympathetic和compassionate都有“同情”之意，但在表達(dá)“同情”的含義時，compassionate主要表示同情心，而sympathetic則多用作表示理解，贊成。

　　4.Cultural point of the day

　　為什么嬰兒奶粉叫baby formula：本文第一段中出現(xiàn)了baby formula這個詞，不�？从⒄Z新聞的讀者可能會誤解，formula這個單詞我們都很熟悉，解釋為“方程、公式”，但很多人都不知道它還有一種含義，就是特指a special nutritive mixture, esp. of milk, sugar, and water, in prescribed proportions for feeding a baby(為嬰幼兒配制的特殊營養(yǎng)物質(zhì))。

　　5.Translation of the day

　　Foreign investors in China are increasingly concerned that they are being targeted in official investigations of pricing practices.

　　在華外國投資者越來越擔(dān)心，他們會像今年早些時候的嬰兒配方奶粉生產(chǎn)商一樣，成為官方對定價行為的調(diào)查目標(biāo)。