US-Japan Trade Research Articles

The US-China Trade War: A Constructive Analysis of the Causes and Methods of De-Escalation

A Global Perspective on the US-China Trade War: Causes, Consequences, and Implications. The US-China trade war, ignited by the protectionist rhetoric of former President Donald Trump, has had profound implications for global economic relations. This paper seeks to examine the chronological development of the trade war, its underlying causes, and the far-reaching consequences it has had on the relationship between the two superpowers. Additionally, it explores the potential ramifications for the Indo-Pacific region and the dynamics of the US-Russia relationship.The trade war has emerged as a complex issue, with both the US and China resorting to retaliatory measures, resulting in a vicious cycle of tariffs and sanctions. Through a thorough investigation, this paper aims to shed light on the impact of these measures on the competitive advantage of American companies compared to their Chinese counterparts. Furthermore, it delves into China's countermeasures and their effects on the country's economy and industrial development.To ensure a comprehensive analysis, the paper draws on a thorough literature review, referencing various studies that explore the root causes and economic impact of the trade war. It places the trade war within its historical context, drawing parallels with past conflicts such as the US-Japan trade war, and examines the political motivations behind the current tension between the US and China.The analysis incorporates relevant statistical data, including trade deficit figures and the composition of imports and exports between the two nations. By doing so, it aims to paint a clear picture of the economic ramifications of the trade war on both countries and the global economy.In conclusion, the paper underscores the necessity of adopting a pragmatic and rational approach to address the US-China trade war. It advocates for both nations to seek common ground while setting aside their differences to achieve mutually beneficial cooperation. Moreover, it emphasizes the significance of innovation, industrial upgrading, and international collaborations for China's economic development amid the ongoing trade war.By presenting a comprehensive examination of the US-China trade war and its implications, this paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the global economic landscape and the critical need for constructive engagement between major economies.

U.S. Economic Diplomacy towards Japan in Resolving Beef Tariff Barriers

The United States (US) is one of beef exporting countries in Japan. The high level of demand for beef in Japan was followed by a decrease in the volume of US beef from Japan during 2017-2020 period caused by import barriers in the form of tariffs faced by US beef. These tariff barriers arise because the US does not have a trade agreement with Japan. This study aims to discuss the efforts made by the US through negotiating tariff barriers with Japan regarding beef exports. This study uses the concepts of economic diplomacy and trade theory as the basis for research analysis. The research method used in this research is descriptive qualitative with data collection through documentation study. The results of this study indicate that the US effort in negotiating tariff barriers with Japan is to form a bilateral trade agreement, namely the US-Japan Trade Agreement (USJTA) which uses the stages of decision-making in economic diplomacy in its formation. Through this effort, the US successfully lowered its beef import tariffs in Japan and leveled its beef competitive level with the CPTPP member countries. In the formation of the USJTA, various actors are involved, both state and non-state actors. Efforts to negotiate tariff barriers on beef exports by the US and Japan succeeded in increasing US beef exports after the establishment of the USJTA began to be implemented on January 1, 2020.
 Keywords: economic diplomacy, export, tariff barriers, United States

ANALYSIS OF THE CAUSES OF THE UNITED STATES TRADE WAR WITH CHINA IN THE ERA OF ECONOMIC GLOBALIZATION

To understand the trade war between the United States (US) and China, it is important to first discuss the underlying causes of the trade conflict. This paper mainly studies the main causes of the US-China trade war. By reviewing and analyzing the literature on China's economic development and the evolution of US-China relations, by comparing the impact of globalization on the US and China, and by exploring what can be learned from the US-Japan trade conflict to understand the current US-China situation. trade relations, research shows that there are three main forces triggering the US-China trade war. With different levels of importance, the three forces are globalization, different development strategies, and President Trump's political declarations. Through research proves that the US-China trade war is unavoidable under the recent geopolitical landscape

An Empirical Analysis of US-Japan Trade Agreement on Welfare in ‘New’ and ‘New New’ Trade models of Monopolistic Competition and Firm Heterogeneity

The perfectly competitive Armington’s model underestimates the welfare effects of the US-Japan Trade Agreement, whereas the monopolistically competitive Krugman "New" trade model will have positive scale effects. As trade begins in firm heterogeneity Melitz "New New" trade model, only the most competitive firms can survive. Although the Melitz model has negative variety and fixed cost effects, the larger positive technology and scale effects offset the negative effects. Thus, the total welfare gains in the Melitz (2003) model owing to production technology and scale effects are much larger than those in the Armington (1969) and Krugman (1979) models. The total welfare gains in the Melitz (2003) model are also larger than those in the Armington (1969) model because of the scale effect of the US-Japan Trade Agreement. Thus, the welfare effects depend on the economic structure of the free-trade agreement members. However, we need to adopt the more realistic Melitz "New New" trade model and Krugman "New"trade model than the standard conventional Armington model to analyze the more plausible economic effects of the US- Japan Trade Agreement.

The Discussion of the Conclusion and the Effect of US-Japan Trade Agreement

Purpose: The purpose of this study is a discussion of Trade Agreement in products and the Digital Trade Agreement between US and Japan. This study contains an investigation of the process and the highlight of the agreement. By the trade agreement, US has obtained the Third biggest agricultural market which came after the decline in the nation’s trade deficit with Japan and the opening of agricultural market. In contrast to US, the aim of Japan’s trade agreement was avoiding tax-increasing on cars and its components. In this study, the issues and arguments caused by these different aims of the agreement will be analyzed. Research design, data, and methodology: The contents of the study are 1) an investigation on the details of US-Japan Trade Agreement, 2) an analysis of the highlight of Trade Agreement in products and the Digital Trade Agreement, 3) a comparison of importation of tax-decreased products by the trade agreement, 4) an investigation on the safeguard of Japan which was instituded during the trade situation, 5) the conclusion of this study. The contents of the study has its value in analyzing the issues and the arguments of these trade agreements. Results: The comparison of Japan’s importation with US between 2019 and 2021 is as follows. The percentages of foods and chemical products did not show meaningful change. The figure in ordinary machines and Electric devices has decreased. Meats and grains account for the 62.5% of total food which were 452.4 billion yens and 516 billion yens respectively. US’s importaion with Japan after the agreements accounts for about 5%(6.6 billion dollars) of total importaion with Japan. The importation percentages were ranked as follows: Ordinary machines, components of non-metal products, electric devices, optical instruments, metal products. The rates of these products have not changed in a meaningful figures. Only a few products have changed. The figures of ordinary machines, electric devices, rubbers have decreased. Implications: The trade between US and Japan was enlarged after the trade agreements between two countries. US oppressed Japan in order to compensate a loss which was caused by withdrawal from the TPP. Japan approached to the agreement with US to avoid tax-increasing in cars and its components. This study is challenging since the study was conducted not long after the agreements. However, the results in this study are valuable as one of the first researchs about the effect of US-Japan trade agreements.

미중 무역전쟁의 본질적 특성과 한국의 대응 전략

The purpose of this study is to analyze the ultimate cause of the U.S.-China trade war, which started in earnest under the Trump administration and is ongoing under the Biden administration, and suggests countermeasures for how Korea will maintain its status as a trading power in the era of the 4th industrial revolution. To this end, after examining the background and causes of the US-China trade dispute in Chapter 2, Chapter 3 will analyze the essential characteristics of the US-China trade war. In particular, I would like to compare the development process of the war for hegemony hidden in the trade war between China, which aims to become a dignified G2 country by the realization of the Chinese dream, and the United States, which does not want to allow a position of absolute power, in comparison with the US-Japan trade war. And in Chapter 4, I want to analyze in detail how the US-China trade war, which is in a lull due to the signing of the first phase of the US-China trade agreement, the spread of Covid-19, and the Beijing Olympics, will develop in the future. In particular, this chapter predicts the direction of acceleration of the Chinese standard 2035, which the Chinese government is putting great effort into to preoccupy international standards, and proposes a response strategy for the Korean economy, caught in the midst of the US-China trade war, to overcome this difficult situation.

Comment on “US–Japan Trade Frictions: The Past, the Present, and Implications for the US–China Trade War”

Comment on “US–Japan Trade Frictions: The Past, the Present, and Implications for the US–China Trade War”

Comments on “US–Japan Trade Frictions: The Past, the Present and Implications for US–China Trade War”

Comments on “US–Japan Trade Frictions: The Past, the Present and Implications for US–China Trade War”

US–Japan Trade Frictions: The Past, the Present, and Implications for the US–China Trade War

The United States and Japan have been involved in trade frictions over a number of products including textiles, steel, automobiles, semi‐conductors, and agricultural products over the last 50 years. US–Japan trade frictions have taken basically two forms: (i) the United States attempting to restrict Japan's exports to the United States; and (ii) the United States attempting to increase its exports to Japan by “opening” the Japanese market. By putting pressure on Japan to adopt necessary measures, the United States sought to achieve two main objectives: (i) to reduce its trade deficit vis‐à‐vis Japan; and (ii) to protect and/or promote US industries. The United States failed to achieve the first objective, while some success was achieved for the second objective. The United States triggered a trade war against China with the objectives of: (i) reducing the bilateral trade deficit; and (ii) stopping unfair trade practices by Chinese firms such as violations of intellectual property rights and forced technology transfer. Based on the experiences from the US–Japan trade frictions, the United States may achieve some success for the second objective, but not for the first. The chances of achieving the second objective would increase if the United States cooperates with countries such as Japan and the European Union, which are faced with similar problems.

Imbalance of carbon emissions embodied in the US-Japan trade: temporal change and driving factors

Abstract In US-Japan trade, Japan ran both economic export surplus and export CO2 emission surplus with the US. Positive net monetary exports for Japan were actually a kind of economic losses of the US, while positive net export CO2 emissions, or net CO2 emissions embodied in US-Japan trade, were regarded as pollution transfer from U.S. to Japan. However, due to lack of unified measurement units and standards between the two research fields, it is difficult to directly assess whether positive effects of U.S. via carbon transfer outweigh negative effects caused by economic losses. The study transforms absolute values of net monetary exports and net export CO2 emissions from 2000 to 2011 in US-Japan trade into two ratios: the ratio of net monetary exports to GDP of U.S. and the ratio of net embodied CO2 emissions to total CO2 emissions of the US. By comparison, the result shows that on average, net monetary exports between U.S. and Japan accounted for 0.45% of American GDP, while ratio of net export emissions to aggregate consumption-based CO2 emissions of U.S. kept about 0.20% during the research period concerned, which indicated that negative effects of economic losses in U.S. outweighed positive effects via carbon transfer in US-Japan trade. Furthermore, a structural analysis of CO2 emissions embodied in US-Japan trade during the 11 years is given. The most significant driver was emission coefficients, defined as CO2 emissions per unit of energy consumption. The driving force of emission coefficients led to dramatic reduction in CO2 flows from Japan to the US and thus caused decrease of net export emissions, which also explained the major reason for the low ratio of export emissions to total CO2 emissions of the US. Finally, according to sectoral distributions of CO2 flows between Japan and the US, emission sources of two countries presented different characteristics.

Rice-Product Technology Transfer from Developing to Developed Countries

Background: Rice is the staple food in the area called the monsoon Asia because of its high yield favored by the sun and rain. The rice agriculture is crucially important to Japan for food security; meanwhile, the imported wheat is cheaper than the domestic rice. The irony is the need to reserve rice agriculture despite the oversupply of rice because of cheap wheat from USA. Objective: To prepare for a bad harvest due to a bad weather, Japan needs to reserve rice agriculture even when wheat can be cheaply imported. This paper proposes a possible policy for Japan to receive rice-related technology from abroad in order to develop a new side-market of rice for the domestic consumption. Method: This paper uses a set of conceptual analysis methods like the need analysis, the obstacle analysis, the dilemma analysis, the irony analysis and the conflict analysis. Results: For the above-stated objective, this paper proposes for Thailand to transfer her newly developed rice-product technology to Japan. This paper assesses its acceptability to Japan. Conclusion: Using this technology, a new rice-product is expected to develop a new market of rice in Japan. This is expected to help Japan reserve rice agriculture for food security. Its possible agro-technological obstacles and US-Japan trade obstacle are also discussed. Keywords: Agriculture policy, bad harvest, climate, conflict analysis, dilemma analysis, food processing technology, food security, need analysis.

The United States direct investment and intra-industry trade with Japan, the Four Tigers and China

This study analyses the differences in Intra-Industry Trade (IIT) patterns between the USA and Japan, China and the Four Tigers: Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan. The estimated IIT indices show US–Japan trade with the highest level of IIT and US–China trade with the most rapid growth in IIT. The empirical data shows that US direct investment enhanced its IIT with East Asia countries as a whole and with Japan, the Four Tigers and China separately, but the effects of US FDI on IIT for the three groups are diverse.

Have US–Japan Trade Agreements Made a Difference?

The few existing empirical studies of US–Japan trade agreements have relied primarily on descriptive statistics or univariate time series methods. We conduct a potentially more powerful test by evaluating agreements in the context of well-specified econometric models. Consistent with trade theory, import demand is modeled as a cointegrating relationship with income and relative price variables, where a trade agreement may cause a structural break in the cointegrating vector. Results are mixed, with evidence in several sectors of a possible change in import behavior following market-opening trade agreements, while in other cases no significant impact can be detected.

Tsushin Gurobaru-ka no Seijigaku: 'Gaiatsu' to Nihon no Denki Tsushin Seisaku

Telecommunications has been a very important industry in Japan for a long time, and scholars of Japanese political economy have analyzed specific issues related to telecommunications, such as Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation's (NTT) contribution to the development of Japan's high-tech industry, US–Japan trade conflict involving telecommunications products and the privatization of NTT. However, no comprehensive studies of Japan's contemporary telecommunications market have existed. This book attempts to fill this void, providing rich description of the political interactions in which the US government applied ‘foreign pressure’ (gaiatsu) on the Japanese government involving issues of telecommunications. The case study section of the book, which begins in the third chapter, is a valuable source of information on Japan's contemporary telecommunications. In the case studies, Suda examines interactions among major actors in the Japanese telecommunications industry, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (MPT) and telecommunications carriers. In the third chapter, she offers background information and details how Japan's telecommunications changed radically with the privatization of NTT in 1985. Before privatization, NTT operated as the sole domestic telecommunications carrier, and exercised control over every aspect of the industry, while maintaining the status of a de facto government agency in charge of regulations of telecommunications. With privatization, NTT began to operate as a private-sector corporation, and MPT was granted government oversight of the Japanese telecommunications market. In facing the telecommunications giant, MPT set the promotion of competition in the telecommunications market as its policy goal. For the smooth and stable transition to a liberalized telecommunications market, MPT imposed policy measures on NTT and new common carriers (NCCs), many of which were restrictive and often generated friction between MPT and telecommunications carriers.

Still bilateral after all these years: US-Japan trade negotiations in telecommunications

Still bilateral after all these years: US-Japan trade negotiations in telecommunications

Reverse importing and asymmetric trade and FDI: a networks explanation

This paper considers the impact of business and social networks on international trade and FDI. I propose that differences in the strength of network effects across countries can produce asymmetric trade and investment flows that may lead to trade friction. A firm from a country with strong network effects has a cost advantage in selling to buyers from its own country. This advantage results in lower inward FDI, lower total imports but larger volumes of reverse imports into the country with strong network effects. The model’s predictions match observed asymmetric trade and investment flows that sometimes lead to US–Japan trade friction.

Teacher-directed learning: information-theoretic competitive learning in supervised multi-layered networks

In this paper, we propose a new type of efficient learning method called teacher-directed learning. The method can accept training patterns and correlated teachers, and we need not back-propagate errors between targets and outputs into networks. Information flows always from an input layer to an output layer. In addition, connections to be updated are those from an input layer to the first competitive layer. All other connections can take fixed values. Learning is realized as a competitive process by maximizing information on training patterns and correlated teachers. Because information is maximized, information is compressed into networks in simple ways, which enables us to discover salient features in input patterns. We applied this method to the vertical and horizontal lines detection problem, the analysis of US–Japan trade relations and a fairly complex syntactic analysis system. Experimental results confirmed that teacher information in an input layer forces networks to produce correct answers. In addition, because of maximized information in competitive units, easily interpretable internal representations can be obtained.

Two American Views on Trade with Japan

US-Japan trade and US trade policy towards Japan are the subjects of these two remarkable books by Edward J. Lincoln and Leonard J. Schoppa. It is a substantial topic. In 1999, US-Japan trade amounted to a total of almost $200bn, accounting for 1.7% of world trade and making the US Japan's largest trading partner. From the American perspective, bilateral trade with Japan is second only to that with Canada. The US-Japan trade relationship is often described as unbalanced, and it is true that year by year Japan records a large surplus in its trade with the US, stemming from macroeconomic factors such as high saving rates in Japan and the large savings-investment gap in the US. In this and other respects, imbalance can in a sense reflect structural complementarity. A large share of Japan's bilateral surplus is re-invested by Japanese firms and institutions in American manufacturing industry or in the American bond market. Even so, for many years, the US has been deeply concerned over its substantial trade deficit with Japan and wished for a substantial reduction. Both Lincoln and Schoppa address this objective, but their approaches and methods are quite different.

On the structural stability of trade equations: the case of Japan

This study examines the stability of Japanese trade equations over the period 1976–1993. It finds evidence of parameter nondashconstancy in equations for both total and bilateral US-Japan trade. In most of the equations, the instability can be traced to changes in specific parameter estimates in the mid-1980s. In these cases, failure to account for the parameter changes leads to an underestimation of actual trade flows that, in some instances, is significant. By implication, standard trade equations estimated from historical data may not be applicable to the analysis of Japanese trade in the late 1980s and beyond.

Dynamics of the yen-dollar real exchange rate and the US-Japan real trade balance

This paper employs cointegration and error correction models to examine the dynamics of the yen-dollar real exchange rate and the US-Japan real trade balance. It uses quarterly data from 1973.I–1993.IV. The unit root tests reveal non-stationarity in both the variables. The ADF test fails to affirm any long-run association between the yen-dollar real exchange rate and the US-Japan real trade balance. Also, there is evidence of bidirectional short-run Granger causality between these two variables with mutual feedbacks.