Japan and the Future of Economic Integration in the Asia-Pacific: Lessons from FTA Negotiations with Mexico and the Philippines.

In negotiating FTAs with Mexico and the Philippines, Japan committed to only very limited opening through expanded import quotas of certain agricultural goods and immigration quotas for healthcare workers. Nevertheless, Japan liberalized in ways it refused to even consider in APEC (1998) and the Japan-Singapore Economic Partnership Agreement (2002). Although most economists believe that bilateral FTAs erode the multilateral trade regime, Japan's FTAs with Mexico and the Philippines have taken the same cautious approach to market access as that in the Doha Round, albeit on preferential terms. With even a successful Doha Round likely to maintain protection for sensitive products, Japan's bilateral FTAs can advance the WTO's liberalization agenda by chipping away at the nation's agricultural protectionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]