Shujiro Urata

• Waseda University

The chapters explore various aspects of RCEP, including its establishment, the political agendas of member countries, their roles during negotiations, and the prospects for RCEP. With a consistent focus on ASEAN, authors discuss the centrality of ASEAN and RCEP’s significance for its members, the impact on neighbouring countries (Australia, China,...

This chapter discusses the historical background and process of the RCEP negotiations. The first half delves into the advancement of discussions regarding regional architecture up to the commencement of the RCEP negotiations. The regional architecture evolved after the end of the Cold War, first promoted informally (sometimes referred to as the ‘AS...

In regional trade agreements (RTAs), member countries choose a common rule of origin (RoO) for each product. This study examines the factors that influence RoOs in four ASEAN‐plus‐one RTAs, which are agreements between ASEAN and four individual countries. One unique feature is that ASEAN as a whole negotiates with a plus‐one country, which may dilu...

This paper investigates the trade restrictiveness of product-specific rules of origin (PSRs) in the comprehensive sets of free trade agreements (FTAs) for Japan and the United States, focusing on their similarities and dissimilarities. The most distinctive dissimilarities are the major PSR types and their variation among FTAs. Japan's FTAs use the...

In this study, we examine the impact of Japan's International Investment Agreements (IIAs) on the locational choice of Japanese firms' foreign direct investment (FDI) by considering the quality of IIAs. We estimate the conditional logit model covering 12,435 FDI cases by 3838 Japanese companies in 92 host countries, 16 manufacturing sectors and 12...

SDG 8’s goal is to promote sustained, inclusive, and sustainable economic growth; full and productive employment; and decent work for all. This chapter examines the experiences of East Asian developing countries in achieving rapid and inclusive economic growth by focusing on the role of international tradeand foreign direct investmentnexus created...

Using a unique firm‐level data set from Asia, this paper examines what determined the robustness and resilience of supply chain links, i.e., the ability of maintaining links and recovering disrupted links by substitution, respectively, when firms faced economic shocks due to the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19). We find that a supply ch...

This article examined the effect of participation in global value chains (GVCs) on productivity for Japanese manufacturing firms by using firm-level data obtained from the Basic Survey of Japanese Business Structure and Activities [Kigyo Katsudo Kihon Chosa], Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. We define a firm engaged in both importing and ex...

We overview the economic backgrounds of the countries participating in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) negotiations and two Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Dialogue Partners-the United States (US) and the European Union (EU)-to understand their economic relationships before the signing of the RCEP and their eco...

In this study, we examined the effect of the order of shortening business hours of the restaurants, which are considered a major source of spreading the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Specifically, we empirically investigated how this order changed the nighttime light (NTL) in regions with restaurants in the Greater Tokyo area from January to June 2...

This study analyzes the impacts of free trade agreements (FTAs) on bilateral trade, focusing on Japan’s FTAs. In particular, we examined both static and dynamic effects at the aggregated and disaggregated levels, using two datasets between 1995 and 2016 for Japanese trade only and world trade. For the static analysis, we investigated the overall im...

This study aims to empirically investigate the role of E-commerce (EC) on the trade impacts of COVID-19. To this end, we estimate gravity equations for bilateral trade among 34 reporting countries and their 145 partner countries during January–August in 2019 and 2020. Our major findings can be summarized as follows. A larger number of confirmed cas...

This study examines the impact of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) on Australian trade with a particular focus on imports from ASEAN member countries to Australia. We examine the AANZFTA’s utilization by ten ASEAN countries at the six-digit trade classification level from 2012 t...

Tariff pass-through is critical for considering the benefits of trade liberalization, the beneficiaries, and the extent. This study empirically examines the tariff pass-through in wholesaling through the wholesale firm-level data in Japan. In particular, the study focuses on wholesalers’ margin ratio, that is, (sales – procurements) / sales. We add...

Aside from serious impact from the COVID pandemic, the Japanese economy has been experiencing sluggish growth for several decades, and its future prospects are not favorable mainly due to the declining population. One effective way for Japan to revive its economy and achieve growth is to expand and intensify its economic relationship with foreign c...

Using the Japanese firm/establishment-level census data, we investigate the impact of the Chinese import penetration on employment in Japan. We found negative impacts of the Chinese import penetration on total employment, especially in industries producing competing products to Chinese imports, and a positive impact of the import penetration in the...

Many studies have investigated the impact of imports, especially those from China, on the domestic labor market. In this paper, we empirically examine the effects of not only imports from China but also those from regional trade agreement (RTA) partners on employment in Japan. To this end, we decomposed the total import penetration into the import...

To contribute to this vision formulation, the Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI) held an open webinar with Canadian and Japanese foreign policy experts who research the Indo-Pacific region to examine Canadian and Japanese FOIP visions through the lens of purpose, form and practice. Purpose refers to why such a vision is important. Form refers...

We examine the impact of free trade agreement (FTA) use on import prices. For this analysis, we employ establishment-level import data with information on tariff schemes, that is, the FTA and most-favored-nation schemes used for importing. Unlike previous studies, we estimate the effects of FTA use on prices by controlling for differences in import...

The United States and Japan have been involved in trade frictions over a number of products including textiles, steel, automobiles, semi‐conductors, and agricultural products over the last 50 years. US–Japan trade frictions have taken basically two forms: (i) the United States attempting to restrict Japan's exports to the United States; and (ii) th...

Mega‐regional trade agreements (RTAs) are likely to overlap with other RTAs. When such overlaps occur, firms must choose the tariff rates from multiple RTAs. By employing data on Japan’s imports by tariff schemes, we investigate how RTA tariff rates affect firms’ decisions on tariff schemes when multiple RTAs exist. Our finding is that RTA utilizat...

East Asia was slow in establishing free trade agreements (FTAs) compared to other parts of the world, where FTAs began to be actively formed in the late 1980s. Despite a slow start, East Asia quickly caught up with other regions in the FTA race. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been a main player in the FTA race in East Asia,...

After concluding difficult and long negotiations, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement was signed by twelve members in February 2016. It is an ambitious agreement that sets a new standard for global trade with a comprehensive coverage of issues and farreaching liberalization measures. However, the ratification of the TPP in its agreed form...

Trade policy, in particular, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP), has been a centerpiece of the Abe administration's economic strategy. The TPP's contributions to Japan's growth strategy include: (i) creating trade and investment opportunities abroad for Japanese companies through ambitious liberalization targets; (ii) advancing domestic...

In this study, we measure the utilization costs of free trade agreement (FTA) tariff schemes. To do that, we use shipment-level customs data on Thai imports, which identify not only firms, source country, and commodity but also tariff schemes. We propose several measures as a proxy for FTA utilization costs. The example includes the minimum amount...

Mega-FTAs involving many countries and encompassing bilateral and mini-lateral FTAs have begun to be negotiated, while the Doha Round of multinational trade negotiations under the WTO have been at a stalemate. Mega-FTAs, which are discriminatory, and the WTO, which is non-discriminatory, are not consistent, thereby leading to a view that they are c...

This study examines the impacts of Japan-Mexico FTA (JMXFTA) on Japanese exports to Mexico. The authors construct a theoretical trade model of heterogeneous firms based on the Melitz-Chaney model, and derive the theoretical relationship of the impacts of tariff changes on extensive and intensive trade margins. Applying this model, the authors estim...

In the 70 years since the end of World War II (WWII), the Japanese economy and the international economic environment have changed greatly. The Japanese economy recovered from wartime destruction, and from the latter half of the 1950s through the 1970s, achieved high levels of growth, which enabled Japan to join the group of advanced countries. In...

ASEAN countries have liberalized intra-ASEAN trade over the last 20 years by establishing the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA). This paper aims to examine the impact of trade liberalization under AFTA on intra-ASEAN trade. By applying a gravity model, we find positive and significant trade creation effects from the tariff elimination for a wide range o...

This paper examines the impacts of regional trade agreements (RTAs) on trade flows at product level, with a particular focus on trade creation and diversion. Based on estimation of the gravity equation, dealing with the zero trade flows and endogeneity bias problems, we analyse the impacts of various types of RTAs involving 67 countries for 20 prod...

Asia has seen a proliferation of free trade agreements (FTAs) in the twenty-first century. Unlike the cases in Western Europe or North America, no region-wide FTAs have been established in Asia. To minimize the spaghetti bowl effect from many FTAs, two region-wide FTAs have been proposed and studied. One is the East Asia FTA (EAFTA) comprising the...

What is the role of domestic politics in facilitating or constraining a government's decision to participate in free trade agreements (FTAs)? This paper seeks to answer this question by focusing on the domestic politics in Japan over the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). In particular, we ask why the opposition to the TPP encompasses a muc...

In May 2013 the ASEAN 6 countries began to negotiate the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). The objective of this paper is to analyze the feasibility of constructing such a region-wide agreement and to examine ways to multilateralize it. The paper first reviews free trade agreement (FTA) developments, and discusses the characterist...

This paper examines various aspects of total factor productivity (TFP) across different firm sizes in Japan. It shows that larger firms have higher total factor productivity levels and growth than smaller firms. There are, however, some exceptions to this pattern especially in the electric machinery sector where small firms tend to have the edge. T...