ABSTRACT
The main objective of this chapter is to provide the evolution, politics, and prospect of Japanese trade policy and relations from the IPE perspective. It comprises four parts. The first is to depict the evolution of Japanese trade policy. It explores changes in relative stress in trade policy from the GATT/WTO system –multilateralism– to bilateral/regional FTAs –bilateralism/regionalism–, which proliferated from ASEAN members to broader partners including the US (TPP) and Europe (Japan-EU FTA). The second part examines major domestic factors that have influenced trade policy-making such as bureaucratic rivalry and political leadership as well as societal interest representation. The third part locates Japan’s trade policy in international settings, and examines specific orientations in trade policy such as defensive/offensive mercantilism and economic security. The fourth part offers prospects on major challenges Japanese trade policy is facing. While Japan needs to prepare for growing import pressure through market liberalization and engage in substantial export expansion in infrastructure systems and so on, it is required to play a leadership role in the formation of regional trade architectures that have become extremely complicated in the mega-FTA formation era.
