ABSTRACT
Incremental and informal modification of barriers hindering international services trade in the industrializing East Asian states may well become extensive, with impetus deriving mainly from incentives offered by Japanese firms, but coming also from leverage applied by the US administration. Some American advantages in services trade would be maintained, in the financial and communications sectors, but over time these would probably be reduced by the general effects of Japanese gains in the markets for manufactures. Global services trade arrangements under a General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade agreement would of course have consequences for the Asia-Pacific region. A question of basic developmental significance is whether some service enterprises may contribute to the growth of a collective will to advance beyond an elementary form of Asia-Pacific regional cooperation. The issues for firms in the Asia-Pacific markets for services are visible principally in the rivalry between US and Japanese corporations.
