Japan goes multilateral on China

Today’s Wall Street Journal notes that Japan’s decision to join the U.S. and European complaint to the World Trade Organization about China’s rare earth export restrictions is the first time Tokyo has resorted to the WTO in a dispute with China (if you’re a subscriber, read the whole article here). The piece suggests that the ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

Today's Wall Street Journal notes that Japan's decision to join the U.S. and European complaint to the World Trade Organization about China's rare earth export restrictions is the first time Tokyo has resorted to the WTO in a dispute with China (if you're a subscriber, read the whole article here). The piece suggests that the case reflects a broader change in Japanese strategy:

Today’s Wall Street Journal notes that Japan’s decision to join the U.S. and European complaint to the World Trade Organization about China’s rare earth export restrictions is the first time Tokyo has resorted to the WTO in a dispute with China (if you’re a subscriber, read the whole article here). The piece suggests that the case reflects a broader change in Japanese strategy:

Fearing confrontation and retaliation, Tokyo has until now opted to use bilateral channels to settle disputes with China. "We are beginning to feel bilateral talks don’t work in some cases," one Japanese government official involved in the filing said. "They have to be dealt with multilaterally."

As the WTO data below indicate, both Japan and China have been quite sparing in their use of the WTO’s formal dispute resolution process. Given the size of their economies, they are significantly less litigious than other major players:

Country

Cases brought

United States

100

European Union

86

Canada

33

Brazil

25

Mexico

21

India

20

Japan

15

Argentina

15

South Korea

15

China

8

Australia

7

Indonesia

5

Turkey

2

South Africa

0

Saudi Arabia

0

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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