The emergence of George W. Bush as winner in the 2000 U.S. presidential election is creating an "expectation gap" between Japan and the United States.
Many Japanese have greeted the Bush victory with a sigh of relief. They had feared that a Gore administration, influenced by labor unions and environmentalists, could turn protectionist on trade, damaging Japanese economic interests. And they had feared that Al Gore as president would continue the Clinton administration's pursuit of a "strategic partnership" with China at the expense of Japan.
In some ways, the Japanese leadership is reflecting nostalgically on the 1980s, when the Reagan and Bush administrations coddled Japan as a Cold War ally. Although the 1980s were marked by intense bilateral trade tensions, many Japanese blamed this on congressional Democrats, business interests and labor unions, who appeared to be forcing reluctant Republican administration officials to pressure Japan to open its markets.