The Japanese tend to believe that Japan is being attacked in a one-sided manner in its trade negotiations with the United States. Such a perception is due to the trauma of past talks in which Japan made countless concessions to Washington. Japan has always tried to find a way to dodge U.S. demands passively. Here are some reasons that Japan is in fact in a far better position than the U.S. when it comes to the current trade talks.
First, Japan does not need to conclude a free trade agreement with the U.S. Notwithstanding the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Japan's export industries, such as its automakers, continue to ship their products to the U.S. just like before.
Second, it is the U.S. that is pressed. With the TPP-11 and the economic partnership agreement between Japan and the European Union coming into effect, the U.S. is now required to compete against its rivals in agricultural produce exports such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand and EU countries under conditions that decisively favor them in the Japanese market.
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