CJS Noon Lecture Series | Is Japanese Trade Policy Finally Proactive? Japan’s Multilateral Leadership in TPP

Since the 1980s, Japan’s foreign policy, including its trade policy, has been known to be “reactive.” Subsequent studies have modified this rather monotonic characterization, but to date, no one has found that Japan is willing and able to take a strong leadership role in a multilateral setting. By historical standards, however, Japan’s leadership in concluding TPP-11 negotiations was rather remarkable. Is Japan finally proactive? It will be demonstrated that Japan found itself in an unusual set of circumstances in TPP-11 and that one cannot generalize from this episode that Japan is now a proactive international player.

Keisuke Iida is a Professor in the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics at the University of Tokyo. His recent publications include Japan’s Security and Economic Dependence on China and the United States. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard University and formerly taught at Princeton University and Aoyama Gakuin University.

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