TRADE POLICY IN TRANSITION? political economy of antidumping in Japan

Bureaucratic politics, policy learning, and changes of antidumping policy and rules in Japan

“…Thus, the provisions of the Customs Tariff Law and the cabinet order for antidumping in Japan were simple and sparse, lacking detailed legal definitions and enforcement procedures for domestic petitioners when compared to those of other developed countries such as the USA (Yoshimatsu, 2001). The rules had so narrowly defined the qualifications of antidumping petitioners, and the evidence to be submitted, that domestic industries faced high barriers to pursuing protection by antidumping law (Fair Trade Center, 1999).…”

“…While strongly suppressing domestic demand for antidumping petitions, the ministry encouraged, often with informal measures, industries to negotiate directly with foreign producers rather than using antidumping petition. To facilitate direct inter‐industry talks, METI relied on bilateral trade negotiations and diplomatic channels with exporting governments (Yoshimatsu, 2001).…”

“…The Ferrosilicon case of 1984 was brought by the Japan Ferroalloy Association (JFA), which petitioned MOF to institute antidumping duties against French and Norwegian exporters. Before filing the formal petition, the industry association had consulted informally with METI for a year and a half before receiving the ministry's final accord to initiate a formal suit (Yoshimatsu, 2001). This rendered the suit meaningless, as the import prices of ferrosilicon climbed up to unproblematic levels in the meantime.…”

“…In particular, METI's policy preferences frequently overruled those of MOF in administering the petitions filed by domestic industries. Because of its contrasting policy preferences with METI's, MOF, in cooperation with the Japan Textile Industry Federation and Keidanren, drafted the guidelines for procedures relating to countervailing and antidumping duties in December 1986 (Yoshimatsu, 2001).…”

“…This paper aims to deepen our understanding of the interrelated questions: how Japanese antidumping policies have been formulated and transformed; what the reasons are for such caution in adopting antidumping measures; and what patterns can be observed of recent changes in antidumping policy and legal systems. Regarding the antidumping enforcement in Japan, Ohnesorge (1997) and Yoshimatsu (2001) presented a detailed analysis on the early antidumping practices in terms of national industrial policy and political economy, respectively. Particularly, Ohnesorge (1997) recognized the presence of discretion of the bureaucrats as well as strains between the government agencies.…”