Protectionism and discrimination against Japan's foreign trade, 1926-1937

This research is a case study of trade friction centering on a specific country, Japan, in a special period, 1926-37. My research materials consisted of declassified documents of archives of governments in Tokyo, Washington, and Richmond.; Japan was a developing country in the 1930s--like the NICs of today, and a newcomer in challenging Western countries on the basis of cost advantages in manufactured exports in the world market.; Japan's international competition and trade friction in the 1930s had two phases: with the advanced Western countries, such as Great Britain; and with the countries less developed than Japan, such as those in Asia and Latin America.; Why did a protectionist trend develop that often focused on Japan during that time? What were the outcomes of the protectionist developments in the 1930s for the world economy and for the Japanese economy? My research clarifies these relevant issues: (a) The Chinese anti-Japan boycotts effected as long-term trade barriers. (b) The effectiveness of Imperial preferential privileges of Great Britain and of the Netherlands. (c) The base of Japan's competitive power and the dumping issues. (d) U.S. intellectuals in 1932 appealed to the President of the United States to embargo Japan and the U.S. trade policy for Japan under the New Deal. (e) Countries in the Middle East believed Japan's withdrawal of membership from the League of Nations implied that she lost the right to trade internationally on an egalitarian basis. (f) Latin American countries applied the trade-balancing system and discriminatory measures against Japanese products because of rapid Japanese trade expansion and the U.S. concern over it.; Modern origins of restrictive trade measures and methods of application are also discussed in historical perspective: interpretations of the most-favored-nation clause, conditional MFN treatments, customs valuations, voluntary export restraints, the trade-link system, and the import licensing system.; It was three years after the terminating year of my research that Japan entered the Second World War.