Japanese Trade Policies Towards Developing Countries

This essay has set out to examine Japan’s trade policies towards developing countries by reference to actual trade flows and by utilizing information obtained from the governments of countries of the Pacific area as regards Japanese trade practices. Section I will present empirical evidence for the year 1973 on the extent of Japanese imports of manufactured goods from developing countries in relation to the imports of the other developed nations from these countries. Section II will review changes in Japanese imports from the developing countries during the 1973–83 period, placing it again in the context of the developed country experience. In Section III, Japanese trade practices affecting imports from Pacific area developing countries will be described, drawing largely on communications received from official sources in Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan. In the conclusions, the available evidence will be brought together in evaluating Japanese trade policies towards developing countries in general and towards the countries of the Pacific area in particular.