根据旨在保护美国食品安全和粮食安全的建议，中国和其他外国投资者在角逐收购美国农业和食品公司的交易时，将面临额外的审查。
Chinese and other foreign investors will face additional scrutiny when pursuing deals to buy American agricultural and food companies under proposals designed to protect US food safety and security.
共和党参议员查尔斯?格拉斯利(Charles Grassley)和民主党参议员德比?斯塔伯诺(Debbie Stabenow)周二在参议院提出立法之际，两党对于更严格地审查中国在美投资的呼声日益响亮，去年这些投资达到创纪录水平。
The legislation set to be introduced in the Senate on Tuesday by Republican Charles Grassley and Democrat Debbie Stabenow come amid growing bipartisan demands for more rigorous vetting of Chinese investment in the US, which reached record levels last year.
这项法案将给唐纳德?特朗普(Donald Trump)总统带来一条兑现竞选承诺的途径，即对北京方面采取强硬立场，此举在美国的农业州（如堪萨斯州、内布拉斯加州和爱荷华州）很可能受到欢迎。美国总统撕毁或重新谈判北美自由贸易协定(NAFTA)等协议的计划，是那些州依赖出口的农民日益担心的根源，他们担心自己将在任何贸易战争中成为报复的第一个目标。
The bill would present President Donald Trump with a way to deliver on campaign promises to take a hard line on Beijing that would likely be popular in agricultural states such as Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. The president’s plans to rip up or renegotiate deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement are the source of increasing angst among export-dependent farmers in those states worried that they would be the first target of retaliation in any trade war.
根据建议，农业部长和卫生部长将加入美国外国投资委员会(Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States，简称CFIUS)的内阁同事；该委员会从保障国家安全的需要出发，审查合并、收购和绿地项目。建议还将使食品安全和粮食安全列为这个跨部门委员会进行考察的附加标准，作为其审查过程的一部分。
Under the proposals, the secretaries of agriculture and health would join cabinet colleagues on the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews mergers, acquisitions and greenfield projects to safeguard national security. It also would make food safety and security additional criteria that the multi-agency committee examined as part of its review process.
“我们需要确保在涉及我国安全利益（无论是食品、就业、国防安全还是技术）的大型商业交易中，透过一个最有利于保持美国强大的棱镜来看待问题，”代表以工业为主的密歇根州的斯塔伯诺参议员表示。“这是国家安全和经济安全的一个非常重要的部分。”
“We need to make sure that in these large business transactions that involve our security interests — whether it be food, jobs, defence security and technology — that we’re looking through a lens that is what’s best to keep America strong,” said Ms Stabenow, who represents the largely industrial state of Michigan. “This is a very important part of national security and economic security.”
爱荷华州参议员格拉斯利表示：“这项法案关乎确保美国在未来几十年保持食品独立。”
Mr Grassley, an Iowa senator, said: “This bill is about ensuring that the US remains food-independent in the coming decades.”
最新关注的起因在于2013年中国双汇国际(Shuanghui International) 47亿美元收购美国猪肉生产商史密斯菲尔德(Smithfield)，以及去年中国化工(ChemChina) 440亿美元收购瑞士农业综合企业先正达(Syngenta)。
The genesis of the latest concerns lies in the $4.7bn acquisition of Smithfield, a US pork producer, by Shuanghui International of China in 2013 and last year’s $44bn bid for Syngenta, the Swiss agribusiness, by ChemChina.
斯塔伯诺和格拉斯利都曾对这些交易提出质疑，并促请美国外国投资委员会加大审查力度。
Both Ms Stabenow and Mr Grassley raised questions about those deals and pushed for greater scrutiny by the committee.
但是，围绕中国在美投资及其战略影响还有一场涉及面更广的辩论，与德国和澳大利亚等国家存在的担忧遥相呼应。根据荣鼎咨询(Rhodium Group)的数据，去年中国在美投资达到创纪录的456亿美元。
But there is also wider debate over Chinese investment in the US, which reached a record $45.6bn last year, according to the Rhodium Group, and its strategic implications that echo concerns in countries such as Germany and Australia.
在共和党主导的国会中，一些人已试图利用人们对中资交易的不安来重拾相关计划，引入更广泛的外资审查标准。这些标准包括互惠测试（它将使中国禁止外国投资的任何行业面临美国的类似禁令）和更加宽泛的经济效益测试。
Some in the Republican-dominated Congress have sought to use unease about Chinese deals to revive plans to introduce broader criteria for foreign investment reviews. Those include a reciprocity test that would make any industries in which China bans foreign investment subject to a similar ban in the US and an even broader economic benefits test.
格拉斯利表示，他不相信那些更广泛的测试是必要的。但他补充说，中国构成一个特殊情况，因为它严格控制从美国进口的许多农产品，并实行收购先正达等外国企业以获取技术的长期战略。
Mr Grassley said he did not believe those sorts of broader test were necessary. But China posed a special case, he added, as it was strictly controlling many farm imports from the US and had a longstanding strategy of buying up foreign companies such as Syngenta to acquire technology.
白宫没有立即回应记者的置评请求。格拉斯利和斯塔伯诺表示，他们希望特朗普在贸易问题上的强硬言辞和他的“美国优先”信条意味着他会接受这个建议。
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Mr Grassley and Ms Stabenow said they hoped Mr Trump’s tough rhetoric on trade and his “America First” credo would mean he was receptive to the proposal.
“这是一个重大问题，它关系到负责任和理解正在发生什么事情，而不是在没有代表美国人民进行一些战略思考的情况下任由其发生，”斯塔伯诺表示。
“It is a major issue and it is a matter of being responsible and understanding what is happening and not just let it happen without some strategic thinking on behalf of the American people,” Ms Stabenow said.
“我希望，鉴于（特朗普政府）在美国就业和聚焦美国利益等问题上发表的言论，这肯定属于那一类。”
“I’m hopeful that given what [the new administration] have said about American jobs and focusing on American interests this certainly falls in that category.”