The Australian Government’s trade policy with Japan since the 1980s has aimed to improve market access in the hope of addressing Australia’s dependence on a narrow range of commodity exports. When bilateral negotiations proved almost completely unsuccessful in diversifying or expanding...

The trading relationship between Australia and Japan has been traditionally based on commodity exports, and a key Australian policy goal in the past has been to encourage Japanese investment in this sector in the hope of stabilising commodity trade. A serious deterioration in Australia’s terms...