PATRICIA COHEN2025年7月28日 Desiré van den Berg for The New York TimesAt Tata Steel’s plant in IJmuiden on the outskirts of Amsterdam, cauldrons of lava-like molten steel are poured into long, thin trays that harden into identical 40-by-4-foot slabs of steel.在阿姆斯特丹郊区艾默伊登的塔塔钢铁厂，熔化的钢铁如熔岩般从高炉中倾泻而出，流入细长的模具，凝固成一块块规格统一的40英尺×4英尺钢板。The end products, though, are strictly haute couture. Every item is made to order: battery casings that do not leak, crumple-zone car parts that absorb the force of a crash, cans that safely preserve food for years.然而，最终产品却绝对是高端定制。每一件都按订单生产：不渗漏的电池外壳、能吸收撞击力的汽车碰撞缓冲区部件、可安全保存食物多年的罐头。Very few companies in the world can produce this kind of advanced high-grade steel. Even so, Tata is being hit by the same forces that are pummeling every steel maker: Manufacturers are producing more steel than the world can possibly use.全球能生产这种高级优质钢材的公司寥寥无几。即便如此，塔塔钢铁也正遭受着冲击所有钢铁制造商的同一股力量：制造商的钢铁产量远超全球需求。Excess steel production is estimated to reach 721 million tons by 2027, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.据经济合作与发展组织估计，到2027年，钢铁过剩产量将达7.21亿吨。One answer would be to simply make less steel. The problem is that no country wants to be the one to stop producing a material that is considered essential to its economic and national security.一个解决办法或许是干脆减产。但问题是，没有哪个国家愿意停止生产这种被视为对自身经济和国家安全至关重要的材料。Steel-making has always held an outsize position as a symbol of economic power and prestige. It constitutes the fabric of modern life, used not only for buildings, roads, cars, refrigerators, electronics, forks and screws but also for weaponry, tanks and fighter jets.作为经济实力和地位的象征，钢铁生产一直占据着举足轻重的地位。它构成了现代生活的基石，不仅用于建筑、道路，制造汽车、冰箱、电子产品、餐叉和螺丝，还用于武器、坦克和战斗机。In Europe, the recognition that the United States can no longer be relied on as the primary guarantor of its security has further underscored steel’s critical role in defense.在欧洲，人们意识到美国已不再是可以依赖的主要安全保障者，这进一步凸显了钢铁在国防中的关键作用。“Steel is fundamental to Britain’s industrial strength, to our security and to our identity as a primary global power,” Britain’s business and trade secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, told Parliament in April when the government passed emergency legislation to take control of the country’s last two operational blast furnaces.“钢铁对英国的工业实力、国家安全以及我们作为全球主要强国的身份来说，都是至关重要的，”今年4月，英国商业和贸易大臣乔纳森·雷诺兹在议会表示。当时，英国政府通过紧急立法，接管了该国最后两座仍在运行的高炉。塔塔钢铁公司的装卸大厅。该公司正面临与所有钢铁制造商相同的困境：制造商生产的钢铁量已远超全球需求。但没有哪个国家愿意停止生产这种被认为对本国经济和国家安全至关重要的材料。塔塔钢铁的一座高炉。过去十年间，中国大量廉价钢铁的涌入彻底改变了全球市场格局。如今，欧洲钢铁制造商还必须应对美国实施的严厉关税措施。No country can manufacture everything by itself, said Elisabeth Braw, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, a think tank. But when you list the products that you want guaranteed access to at any moment, “steel is one of them,” she added.智库大西洋理事会的高级研究员伊丽莎白·布拉说，没有哪个国家能凭一己之力制造所有东西。但如果要列出那些在任何时候都希望能保障供给的物资，“钢铁是其中之一，”她补充说。Over the past decade, a flood of cheap steel from China has transformed the global market. The country’s mammoth collection of mills — built in part with government support and often lacking the environmental controls mandated in Europe — make more steel, as well as aluminum, than the rest of the world combined. As China’s economy has slowed, more of these metals have been exported at cutthroat prices.过去十年，中国廉价钢铁的涌入彻底改变了全球市场。中国拥有数量庞大的钢铁厂——部分由政府支持建设，且往往缺乏欧洲强制要求的环保标准——其钢铝产量超过了世界其他地区的总和。随着中国经济增速放缓，更多此类金属以极具杀伤力的低价出口到海外。The result is sinking prices, shrinking profits and unemployed workers. Measured by the kilogram, steel costs less than bottled water. Smaller revenues also mean less money to invest in new low-carbon technologies, which are essential to meeting the European Union’s climate goals, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development warned in May.结果导致钢材价格下跌、企业利润缩水和工人失业。按公斤计算，钢铁的价格比瓶装水还低。经济合作与发展组织在5月警告称，收入减少也意味着用于投资新低碳技术的资金减少，而这些技术对欧盟实现气候目标至关重要。The European Union imposes trade penalties intended to stop China from dumping its cheap steel on its markets. But Chinese steel keeps coming, prompting countries that were not traditionally steel exporters, like South Korea and Japan, to join the hunt for buyers elsewhere.为了阻止中国倾销钢材，欧盟实施了贸易惩罚措施，但中国钢材仍然持续涌入，促使韩国、日本等传统上并非钢铁出口国的国家也开始在其他地区寻找买家。“It’s a domino effect,” said Lucia Sali, head of communications at the European Steel Association.“这是一种多米诺骨牌效应，”欧洲钢铁协会公关主管露西娅·萨利说。And now, aside from high energy and labor costs, aging technology and fierce competition from China, European steel makers must also contend with punishing American tariffs. President Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on nearly all steel and aluminum imports last month, twice the amount he announced in March, in a bid to protect and pump up American producers.如今，除了高昂的能源和人力成本、陈旧的技术以及来自中国的激烈竞争外，欧洲钢铁制造商还必须应对美国的惩罚性关税。特朗普总统上月对几乎所有钢铝进口产品征收50%的关税，是他3月宣布税率的两倍，旨在保护和提振美国本土生产商。The Trump tariffs not only threaten to significantly reduce the amount of steel Europe can sell in the United States. They also mean other steel producers around the world will be looking to redirect more and more of their exports to Europe, further increasing competition with companies at home.特朗普的关税不仅可能大幅减少欧洲对美钢铁出口量，还意味着全球其他钢铁生产商将寻求把越来越多的出口转向欧洲，进一步加剧与欧洲本土企业的竞争。Britain is in a better position than most. Mr. Trump exempted British steel from the additional 25 percent tariff on steel and aluminum and has agreed to remove the remaining 25 percent tariff in the future.英国的处境比大多数国家要好一些。特朗普豁免了英国钢铁免受额外25%的钢铝关税，并同意在未来取消剩余的25%关税。Still, Britain’s aging plants are having trouble surviving.尽管如此，英国老旧的工厂仍难以维系。This spring, the government took over the British Steel complex in Scunthorpe, an industrial town in northern England. Jingye, the Chinese company that owned the plant, had threatened to shut it down, citing losses of 700,000 pounds a day, or about $940,000. Its two blast furnaces are the last in the country to produce steel from scratch using iron ore and coal, rather than from scrap metal.今年春天，英国政府接管了位于英格兰北部工业城镇斯肯索普的英国钢铁公司工厂。此前，拥有该工厂的中国企业敬业集团曾威胁要关闭工厂，称其每天亏损70万英镑（约合94万美元）。该工厂的两座高炉是英国最后一批用铁矿石和煤炭（而非使用废金属）从头开始生产钢铁的高炉。Last year, the government also helped bail out Tata Steel, which runs a large mill at Port Talbot in Wales, with a £500 million grant to transition to a greener electric arc furnace that melts recycled steel.去年，政府还提供一笔5亿英镑的拨款，帮助塔塔钢铁位于威尔士波特塔尔博特的大型钢铁厂转型为使用更环保的电弧炉熔炼回收钢材。In the Netherlands, Tata Steel’s plant in IJmuiden is in better shape. The site, which is the size of 1,100 soccer fields and sits next to a public beach, is one of the country’s largest industrial employers. The plant is the second largest in Europe.在荷兰，塔塔钢铁位于艾默伊登的工厂状况较好。该厂区面积相当于1100个足球场，毗邻公共海滩，是荷兰最大的工业雇主之一，也是欧洲第二大钢铁厂。The landscape includes towering smokestacks and miniature mountain ranges made from heaps of iron ore and coal. Tata Steel plans to convert the coal-powered plant to renewable hydrogen and natural gas by 2030 and is negotiating with the Dutch government for subsidies.厂区内有高耸的烟囱，还有由铁矿石和煤炭堆成的小山。塔塔钢铁计划到2030年将这座燃煤钢铁厂改造为使用可再生氢和天然气的工厂，并在与荷兰政府协商补贴事宜。And the company continues to invest in the next generation of workers, admitting 150 to 200 people to its training academy each year.该公司还在继续投资培养下一代工人，每年接收150至200人进入其培训学院。But the IJmuiden plant still has headaches. Dutch regulators have been fighting Tata Steel in court over fines and a potential closure of a coke oven because of its toxic emissions. The planned transition to lower-emissions technology will cost billions and take time.但艾默伊登工厂仍面临不少棘手问题。因该厂的有毒排放问题，荷兰监管机构一直在法庭上与塔塔钢铁就罚款和可能关闭一座焦炉进行较量。计划中的向低排放技术转型将耗资数十亿欧元，且需要多年时间。At the moment, steel made with green hydrogen in electric arc furnaces and other greener production methods spew far less emissions but cost 30 to 60 percent more than conventional production, according to various estimates.根据多方估算，目前采用绿色氢气和电弧炉等更环保生产工艺的钢铁，排放量要少得多，但成本比传统生产方式高出30%至60%。And then there are the tariffs. Tata said in a statement that 12 percent of its sales were “U.S. related” and that it passed on most of the 25 percent tariff that went into effect in March to its American customers, which include Ford Motor, Chrysler, Caterpillar and Duracell.此外还有关税问题。塔塔钢铁在一份声明中表示，其12%的销售额来自美国市场，3月生效的25%的关税大部分已转嫁给美国客户，包括福特汽车、克莱斯勒、卡特彼勒和金霸王等。塔塔钢铁创新中心正在对钢制汽车零部件进行扫描。塔塔钢铁公司的铁矿石堆。红色的是露天矿开采的铁矿石，灰色的是采用地下开采方法开采的铁矿石。在荷兰维克安泽海滩，可以看到远处塔塔钢铁公司的烟囱。But, the company added, it worries that with 50 percent tariffs “our steel may become too expensive.”但该公司还表示，若关税升至50%，“我们的钢铁可能变得过于昂贵”。Patricia Cohen常驻伦敦，撰写与全球经济有关的新闻。翻译：纽约时报中文网点击查看本文英文版。