United States, Japan Recommit To Addressing Non-Market Policies And Practices

The United States and Japan recently outlined a plan to ensure a “free and open Indo-Pacific region” in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine and concerns about China’s influence in the world.

Broadly, the two countries “reiterated the importance of commitments to promote broad-based economic prosperity for our middle classes” and “committed to advancing policies that support a multilateral trading system based on free and fair trade and that counter economic coercion and non-market policies and practices, emphasizing the importance of offering workers, businesses, and countries around the world a level playing field.”

More specifically, the statement committed the two countries to:

• Effectively confronting non-market policies and practices;
• Moving toward energy transition and decarbonization and recognizing the roles of renewable energy, nuclear power, ammonia, clean hydrogen-based solutions, carbon capture utilization and storage, as well as carbon recycling in achieving long-term energy security and net zero greenhouse gas emissions no later than 2050;
• Strengthening investment in the energy sector and ensuring secure energy resources in the near term, including through liquefied natural gas;
• Reducing methane emissions;
• Promoting information sharing on cybersecurity threats;
• Enhancing U.S.-Japan cooperation to create more effective and agile export controls on critical and emerging technologies;
• Fostering supply chain resilience in strategic sectors, including, in particular, semiconductors, batteries, and critical minerals; and
• Building a diverse and robust supply chain of critical minerals, including rare earths.

Click here to read the full statement.