Number: RL33044
Title: Japan's Free Trade Agreement Program
Authors: Raymond J. Ahearn, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division 
Abstract: Japan's FTA program, assuming the current cautious and defensive course persists, is likely to have varied effects on U.S. interests. On the one hand, it is likely to provide a positive, yet small, boost to increasing Japan's role in the economics and political economy of East Asia. It is also likely to be favorable to bilateral trade ties as other Asian trading partners (instead of just the United States) pressure Japan to open its agricultural market further. On the other hand, the absence of a meaningful agricultural reform bodes poorly for support from Japan in the agricultural negotiations of the Doha Round. There are also concerns that a defensive and weak FTA program could allow China to play a more dominant role in the Asian economy through its own FTA program - perhaps even creating a exclusionary Asian trading bloc.
Pages: 15
Date: August 22, 2005