Japan's Strategy on the Free Trade Agreement: Working as a Connection between Two Major Powers?

We are facing a period in which the trade tensions between the EU and the US are escalating. Japan is struggling to strike a balance between these two poles. Japan is unique in that it has concluded free trade agreements with both the EU and the US. Therefore, through these two routes, Japan could contribute to bridging the gap between the US and the EU. This presentation will comparatively analyze both the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and the US-Japan Trade Agreement and explore whether the EU and the US can converge to create a new trade framework, which would promote the reform process in the WTO.

Takemasa Sekine is a professor at Nagoya University of Commerce and Business. He received his legal education at Keio University (Ph.D. and LL. M.) and was later engaged as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS). He is currently as a boad member of the Government Procurement Review Board in Japan and also joining research projects hosted by Japanese governmental institutions, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

Moderator: Dr. Patrik Ström, Deputy Director, European Institute of Japanese Studies, Stockholm School of Economics

Discussant: Dr. Richard Nakamura, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg

RSVP to nanhee.lee@hhs.se by January 24, 2020

The Japan seminar series is jointly organized by the European Institute of Japanese Studies at Stockholm School of Economics, the Asia Programme at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs, the Department of Asian, Middle Eastern and Turkish Studies at Stockholm University and the Swedish Defence University. It features monthly seminars on Japanese economy, politics and society.

This seminar is organized through collaboration with the embassy of Japan in Sweden.

Welcome!