Tokyo and Europe Take a Stand Against Protectionism

Posted: August 2nd, 2017

By Mireya Solis

Mireya Solís is co-director and the Philip Knight Chair in Japan Studies in the Brookings Center for East Asia Policy Studies. An expert in Japan’s foreign economic policies, Solís earned a doctorate in government and a master's in East Asian studies from Harvard University, and a bachelor's in international relations from El Colegio de México. Her main research interests include Japanese politics, political economy, and foreign policy; international and comparative political economy; international relations; and government-business relations. She also has interests in broader issues in U.S.-Japan relations and East Asian multilateralism.

Now that Trump Administration has pulled out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and so far failed to move ahead on the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations, many of America’s closest allies are looking for alternatives. This month, Japan (who was to be included in TPP) and the EU (the EU counterpart to TTIP) reached a trade agreement that will cover around 40 percent of global trade – although the deal has yet to be enacted. According to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, this agreement “makes a statement about the future of open and fair trade in today’s world. And it shows that closing ourselves off to the world is neither good for business, nor for the global economy, nor for our workers.”

The Cipher Brief’s Fritz Lodge spoke with Mireya Solis, Co-Director of the Center for East Asia Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution, to look at the forces that brought the EU and Japan together, and how this deal could impact U.S. trade relations and economic security.

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