ABSTRACT
The EC–Japan negotiations on export moderation of early 1983 (after a start-up in December 1982) took place against the background of trade balance problems that were by now familiar. They can only be fully understood if they are seen in the context of overall bilateral economic and political relations between the two parties, as they had developed in preceding years. Independently of the question whether the results of these negotiations did or did not have a positive impact on the EC–Japan trade balance, the fact that they could take place and that both parties could agree on such unorthodox issues as the setting of export restrictions and obligatory export floor prices, taught us a lesson in the fragility of trade doctrines when they are confronted with the hard facts of the world of economic realities.
