Japan: Interest Group Politics, Foreign Policy Linkages, and TPP
After years of reluctantly opening its markets in the face of pressure from abroad, Japan led the campaign to save the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). This chapter evaluates the agreement from the perspective of Japan to investigate why the government chose to join TPP negotiations after years of delays, and why it became one of the first members to ratify the agreement even as US support for the agreement wavered amidst a fraught presidential campaign. TPP represents by far the most ambitious free trade agreement undertaken by Japan. It has been subject to tremendous resistance from farm groups and other interests, and moderate advocacy from industry. Against this backdrop, the value of the agreement as part of a geopolitical strategy was essential to Japanese support of TPP. The chapter argues that foreign policy interests were necessary to overcome domestic obstacles to liberalization. But the role of geopolitics in Japanese trade policy has moved beyond reaction to US pressure for liberalization. In the proactive use of economic statecraft, Japan seeks to deepen regional integration in East Asia and balance against China. Changes in the administrative process within the Japanese government and the decision to position the international trade agreement within the framework of policies for domestic economic restructuring further strengthened the resilience of Japanese commitment to the agreement and show how megaregulation can be embedded within domestic political reform agendas.