U.S. - Japan Antitrust Cooperation

This article is a transcript of a speech made at Georgetown University Law Center. The speech is a review of papers written by Joseph Griffin, EC/U.S. Antitrust Cooperation Agreement: Impact on Transnational Business, 24 Law & Pol'y Int'l bus. 1051 (1993) and Joel Davidow, Keiretsu and US Antitrust, 24 Law & Pol'y Int'l Bus. (l993). These papers address the issues of antitrust and keiretsu. The speech notes that if the United States believes that keiretsu practices violate U.S. or Japanese antitrust laws, but that these unlawful practices cannot be stopped, the failure to resolve the legal issue will aggravate U.S. resentment of the larger economic and political problem. If most keiretsu practices are legitimate under either country's laws, then a potential irritant to the U.S.-Japan economic relationship is defused. Thus, the successful handling of the antitrust issue involving Japanese keiretsu is important. This article discusses the various methods of addressing the keiretsu dilemma based on the suggestions of various professors