The Uruguay Round negotiations are currently passing through a critical phase after four years of strenuous bargaining. The ultimate success of the negotiations largely depends on the attitudes of the USA, the EC and Japan. What are the main contentious issues between these three and how are...

The end of 1992 has of late become quite a significant date in Europe. By this time the so-called Single European Market is to be created. The date and the topic are producing intensive debates all over the world. The purpose of this article is to describe certain trends which go along with the...

The growing importance of Japan on the world market has brought with it changes in the international division of labour and a shift in the focus of the expansion in world trade away from the EC and the USA. What factors determine the shares of the EC, the USA and Japan in international trade?...

East Asian nations, which not long ago were counted among the more backward, are emerging as dramatically expanding markets as well as tough competitors for the United States. Predictions are that the Pacific-rim economy will expand twice as fast as the rest of the world. Professor Jens...

Japan is currently still characterized by a low degree of import integration in the field of finished products. What are the reasons behind this? What can be done to remove the existing trade imbalances vis-à-vis Western industrialized countries? What, on the other hand, can be learned from the...

The danger of serious disagreements on the agricultural question and a trade war developing between the EC and the USA may never have been as great as it is today: on the one hand, the EC has less and less leeway for its foreign trade policy because the problems in financing its agricultural...

Bewildering advances of Japanese production into many fields of European industry are a cause of grave concern in the EC. Calls for protection are growing louder as a mixture of fear and impatience spreads throughout the Community. Wilhelm Haferkamp, EC Commissioner in charge of external trade...