ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to determine the relative importance of each of the four causal factors in the context of bilateral contentiousness over trade in the rice, automotive, and semiconductor sectors. The rice, automotive, and semiconductor sectors were selects as case studies for several fundamental reasons. Trade in agricultural commodities has, and continues to be, an important component of the Japan–US trade relationship. The important trade friction causes are probably the diverging national political scenes, especially the interplay of powerful farming interest groups and government agencies in national politics and policy–making. The trade friction causal factor of primary explanatory value in the automotive sector has clearly been the existence of strong bilateral economic competition. A major reason for the shift in semiconductor producer rankings is the differing growth rates of capital investment by American and Japanese producers. The primary trade friction causal factor in the automotive sector has the existence of strong economic competition between Japan and America.
