“The Political Process of the U.S.-Japan Structural Impediments Initiative” (minervashobo. 2013)

Kazutoshi SUZUKI (Associate Professor, Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hiroshima University)

I am extremely honored and grateful to receive the prestigious Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize. I would like to thank the Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Foundation, the Board of Directors, and the Selection Committee. I would also like to thank all those who supported my research and its publication. The name of the prize and the list of past recipients filled with great scholars made me realize the profound responsibility I have in future research.

The book analyzes a negotiation that started over two decades ago. However, the political process of the Structural Impediments Initiative closely resembles the current situation in one vital aspect. The TPP, similar to the SII in the 1990s, aims to achieve a higher level of liberalization and harmonization of economic regulations.

One major difference between the SII and the TPP is that the latter is a multilateral project. It is often indicated that the TPP is substantially an FTA between the United States and Japan, because the GDPs of these two economies account for a large fraction of the total GDP of the Trans-Pacific region. However, the ongoing negotiation is not just about these two economies but also about institutionalizing a high level of liberalization in the multilateral arena. It is obviously a process for constructing a new community in the Pacific Basin.

Furthermore, the consequence of this project will by no means be limited to the region. This is because FTAs generally have a “domino effect” that encourages other countries to enter similar agreements. After the United States and Japan decided to participate in the TPP negotiation, frameworks such as the TTIP, the EU-Japan EPA, and RCEP have been revitalized. The Pacific regional association is pushing the process of world trade liberalization into a new stage in which the most advanced economies are connected by means of regionalism.

If we aim at high-level liberalization in a wider range of sectors, the negotiation will inevitably include sectors and practices that have yet to adjust to the global economy. Therefore, highly political and difficult struggles will occur in most of the participating countries. The book analyzes how the American and Japanese governments have overcome a similar bottleneck. I am pleased if my analysis contributes even slightly to the construction of open regionalism, which Prime Minister Ohira aptly advocated.

Profile
Kazutoshi SUZUKI is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hiroshima University. He graduated from the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in 1999, and studied at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, from which he earned his Ph.D. He worked as a researcher at the University of Tokyo, and as a research fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion Science. His research interest centers at international negotiation, globalization, and theory building using multi-agent simulation. His recent work includes “The Use and Effectiveness of Cross-industry Retaliation: Evidence form U.S. Trade Policy”, International Relations 160, pp.1-16, 2010.