The world trade system is under great and growing strain. Global trade negotiations under the auspices of the World Trade Organization have stalled and are considered dead. Regional trade initiatives, stimulated by the failures of the WTO, are being undermined by political developments. The United States, under President-elect Donald Trump, is flagging in its commitment, not only to continued liberalization, but even to deals that it has already made.
Yet this environment also offers an opportunity for governments that have traditionally been passive about such negotiations to shed their hesitance and assume leadership. This is a moment for Japan to step up and demonstrate its commitment to free and fair trade. And, while it is anathema for many to say it, Tokyo and Beijing could work together on regional trade initiatives that advance the goal of trade liberalization and promote cooperation among Asia's two largest economies.
For the last several decades, global negotiations have been the engine of trade liberalization. Unfortunately, however, the Doha Development Round of WTO talks, launched in 2001, has foundered. Its failure is reflective of larger troubles that dog governments and politics today: Designed to spread the gains of trade more widely, developed nations torpedoed the talks precisely because they could not convince their publics of the desirability of negotiations that delivered more benefits to the developing world than to themselves.