The Political Economy of Trade Conflicts

1. Front Matter

   Pages I-VIII

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2. Introduction: Change, Conflict, and the Management of Trade Relations

   1. Introduction: Change, Conflict, and the Management of Trade Relations

      • Franz Waldenberger

      Pages 1-5

3. Changes in National, Bilateral, and Regional Trade Policies

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7

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   2. Foreign and Domestic Determinants of Trade Policy

      • Risaburō Nezu

      Pages 9-16

   3. EU Trade Policy: Special Interests versus Social Welfare

      • Hans-Peter Fröhlich

      Pages 17-31

   4. EU Trade Policy vis-à-vis Japan: From Confrontation to Cooperation

      • Wolfgang Pape

      Pages 33-43

   5. Japanese Trade Policy and Political System

      • Kōsuke Ōyama

      Pages 45-59

   6. The US-Japan Structural Impediments Initiative: A Model for Reducing Trade Friction?

      • Takehiko Yamamoto

      Pages 61-71

   7. US-Japanese Trade Relations: Challenges and Opportunities

      • Jonathan D. Aronson

      Pages 73-82

4. Special Policy Areas

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 83-83

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   2. Japanese Farm Products Trade and Japanese Agricultural Policy

      • Yoshiaki Watanabe

      Pages 85-91

   3. Historical Background of Government Interventions in Agriculture and Possible Compromise in Farm Trade

      • Kenji Horiguchi

      Pages 93-100

   4. EU Agricultural Policy and International Trade Conflicts

      • Adolf Weber

      Pages 101-114

   5. The Role of Government in High Tech Trade

      • Glen S. Fukushima

      Pages 115-122

   6. Bureaucratic R&D Policies: The Japanese Example

      • Maurice Bourène

      Pages 123-131

   7. An Analysis of Antidumping Policies in World Markets for High Technology Products

      • Kazuharu Kiyono

      Pages 133-142

   8. National Policies in a Global Economy: The Case of Competition Policy

      • Franz Waldenberger

      Pages 143-154

5. Back Matter

   Pages 155-159

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David Ricardo's law of comparative advantage and his finding that free trade increases the wealth of all participating nations is one of the very few economic laws which is accepted by almost all economists. But economic reason and economic policy do not always follow the same path. This especially applies to trade policies. A substantial and growing part of trade between Japan, Europe and the US does not follow the principles of free trade, but is more accurately managed trade. The management of international trade, international trade negotiations, and the political dynamics of trade conflicts create a complex reality which follows its own laws without regard to economic policy prescriptions. This political-economic reality was the subject of the conference 'The Political Economy of Trade Conflicts' organizedjoindy by the German Institute for Japanese Studies and the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation together with the Institute of Modern Political Science and Economics of Waseda University in December 1993. We present the results of the conference in this reader. Three issues were of special importance: the US-Japanese conflict over the reduction of trade imbalances via quantitative import targets; the liberalization of trade in agricultural products, especially the opening of the Japanese rice market; and the trade tensions between the European Union, the US and Japan in high technology industries. The conference took place immediately before the conclusion of the Uruguay Round, and yet its subject continues to be of high political importance. In early 1994, the US-Japan conflict around quantitative import targets became more tense.

• Agrarhandelspolitik
• Agricultural Trade Policy
• Commercial Policy
• EU Trade Policy
• European Union (EU)
• Handelspolitik
• Handelspolitik der EU
• International Economic Relations
• Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen
• Japan
• Japanese Trade Policy
• Wirtschaftsbeziehungen
• competition
• political economy
• trade policy

• German Institute for Japanese Studies, Chiyoda-ku Tokyo 102, Japan

  Franz Waldenberger

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