No doubt both America and Japan must share responsibility, in different ways, for the failure to realize the clear potential of our mutual relationship. To productively deepen the transpacific dialogue, we must start from the premise that neither side is exclusively at fault. Yet if we are to avoid long-term misunderstandings and unrealistic expectations, each needs to speak far more concretely of both its misgivings and its national interests and international responsibilities. For Americans, a matter of longstanding frustration in transpacific relations has been Japan's seeming unwillingness or inability to deregulate its economy significantly. It could be valuable to investigate together why such U.S. perceptions persist.
Generalities breed misplaced expectations and provide cover for inaction.
The U.S. and Japan urgently need to move, in the interest of consumers in both nations, toward a more clearly defined deregulation agenda that actively supports balanced expansion of international trade. The cornerstone of that stability must be a U.S.-Japan security treaty with domestic political credibility in both nations, that is respected in the broader world. More balanced bilateral economic relations, combined with confidence that Japan will do its part in responding to security contingencies in Asia, will help enhance domestic American political support for the U.S.-Japan alliance. One area where the long-term interests of our two nations clearly coincide is in constructively coping with the costs of Asian growth. Asia's hypergrowth is rapidly generating energy and feed-grain shortages, environmental dangers, and transportation crises that deepen popular frustration and, in some cases, actually threaten local stability and security across that volatile, changing continent.