Ultimately trade expansion will translate into more production, more jobs, lower costs for consumers, and more rapid economic growth in Japan and the rest of the world. Japan is the second largest economy in the world and an economic superpower. But the Japanese economy performs in a manner that sets it clearly apart from other major industrialized countries. This is very evident by looking at Japan's low level of manufactured goods imports and inward foreign direct investment. The small role that imports and foreign firms play in Japan's economy relative to other industrialized economies is repeated in specific sectors such as telecommunications, insurance, and motor vehicles and parts.
Japan is the world's second largest market for telecommunications products.
Yet, Japan's global import share of telecommunications products is 5 percent, while the average for the other G-7 countries is 25 percent. Although Japan has the second largest insurance market in the world, foreign access has perennially been limited to 2 percent of the market. Foreign access in the other G-7 countries, by stark contrast, ranges from approximately 10 to 33 percent. In autos and auto-parts, the asymmetries in market share are even more striking. The vehicle import share in Japan is 3 percent while the import share in motor vehicles in the other G-7 countries ranges from 35 percent to 56 percent.