the background of FTA and the promotion of it in Japan (1)

World Trade: An Aspect of Trade

Through this blog, I would like to talk about FTA(Free Trade Agreement), EPA(Economic Partnership Agreement), and TPP(Trans-Pacific Partnership) which are deeply related to Japanese Agricultural policy. This topic is one of the most important things in Japanese economy and politics, so that thinking about it carefully is very meaningful for Japan in future. Thus, I will explore it in depth step by step, and as it moves toward the end, I will focus on TPP that is one of the most remarkable things in Japan now. 

Free Trade Area

Before the beginning, let me introduce to myself briefly. Hey forks!! I'm k who is international student in UCSD and econ major. I have worked as a research assistant for few months under Prof. Takeo Hoshi, working at IRPS in UCSD, and my research is about the main topic of this blog: FTA & Japanese Agricultural Policy. As I mentioned the above, I will explore this topic deeply with changing the world situation. OK, are you guys ready? Let's get started!!

At first, let me talk about the background of FTA and the promotion of it in Japan for better understanding in following topics.

In 1990’s, Japan took a negative attitude toward FTA under principle to attach great importance to WTO. In January 2002, Koizumi administration concluded the FTA with Singapore in the beginning. From then on, he concluded the FTA with Mexico and Malaysia, reached a signature with Philippine, and came to wait for a signature and ratification with Thailand. Furthermore, the FTA negotiations with Indonesia, Brunei, the whole ASEAN, Chile, Korea, the Persian Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, etc) were performed. So far, Japan has done more on January 18^th, 2011.

Here is the list of FTA, EPA in terms of Japan.

ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-Brunei Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-Indonesia Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-Malaysia Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-Singapore Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-Viet Nam Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-Chile Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-India Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-Mexico Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-Republic of Korea Economic Partnership Agreement

Japan-Switzerland Economic Partnership Agreement

Now, back to the main topic; why did Japan take a negative attitude toward FTA until 1990’s? How did the negative attitude change to the promotion of the FTA? What was the power that led Japan to the FTA promotion be? How did the obstacle to the FTA promotion to be removed?

The reasons for Japan having taken a negative attitude toward FTA were (a)geographical circumstances, (b)a Japan-U.S. trade dispute, and (c)the difficulty of the liberalization of the agriculture in particular.

 　

　　　I will talk about (a), (b), and (c) more in depth by next Tuesday.




Sources


http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/economy/fta/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_trade_area

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%87%AA%E7%94%B1%E8%B2%BF%E6%98%93%E5%8D%94%E5%AE%9A