This volume presents the proceedings of an international conference held in 1986, a year in which the policy frictions between Japan and the United States were particularly heated. The issues discussed herein are of broader interest than the crises reported in the daily press. The conference programme and discussions attempt to put these crises in perspective and thereby contribute to our understanding of economic policy.

Economists disagree on whether recent U.S. trade policies are harmful or helpful, but they all agree that there is a new trend toward focusing on results-oriented policies in specific markets and with particular trading partners. These twelve essays by leading international economists explore crucial issues in U.S. trade policy today. Topics examined include the markets for automobile and automobile parts in the United States and Japan, the U.S. response to "unfair" trading practices such as dumping, and the effects of industry- and country-specific policies. Examples include high-technology and agricultural industries and off-shore assembly in U.S. border cities. The volume concludes that some policies can act to both protect imports and promote exports, that the threat of protectionist policies can often have effects that are as pronounced as their implementation, and that regulatory policy has as great an impact on trade and investment patterns as does trade policy itself. It will be of crucial interest to international trade economists, policy specialists, and political scientists.

First published in 1998, this study of Japan-U.S. trade friction and the role perceptual differences have played in its evolution differs from its predecessors in key ways. First, it is interdisciplinary, drawing on the research of anthropologists, area specialists, intercultural communication specialists, linguists, sociologists, and social psychologists as well as that of political scientists and economists. Second, it both identifies and quantifies perceptual differences between Japanese and American opinion leaders regarding the large bilateral trade imbalances, the bilateral relationship, and national negotiating styles. Third, original data were collected from completed questionnaires sent to 230 American and 230 Japanese opinion leaders from business, government, academia, and the media, who had been involved in some way with the rice, automotive, or semiconductor sectors. Fourth, the three case studies of trade friction are representative of three differing mixes of trade friction are representative of three differing mixes of trade friction causal factors and perceptual dynamics. Finally, based on the findings of this study, modest suggestions are offered on how the bilateral perceptual gap might be narrowed and trade friction diminished so that the structural and sectoral problems might more effectively be addressed. This book should be of interest to scholars, government officials, and business leaders in Japan, the United States, and other countries in the global community who are interested in bilateral relations, international economic and political affairs, and trade friction. It should also be of special interest to social psychologists and cross-cultural scholars and researchers.

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject Economics - International Economic Relations, grade: 1,1, The University of Hong Kong, language: English, abstract: History plays a funny role in repeating itself. With light of the current trade frictions between the United States and China, their trading histories become increasingly relevant. Little did both sides know the substantial impact of President Nixon’s 1972 meeting with Chairman Mao—the event laid the basis for growth and development between both countries for the next several decades: into a present where the US dominates while China has the fastest growing financial market of the Twenty-first Century. Up until recently, their trade relations have been, if not smooth, at least civil. However, the increasing number of disputes in trade and policy-making may adversely affect the development of Sino-US relations on the world market. As the international society turns their critiquing eyes towards the friction currently plaguing the US and China, the two world powers are placed in the precarious position of settling these disputes to not only decide the future of their own fragile partnership, but the ultimate direction of the world trading scene.

SCOTT (copy 1): from the John Holmes Library collection.

The essays in this 1989 volume provide an overview of the causes and proposed remedies for the recurring bouts of trade friction between Japan and the United States.