ECONOMIC RELATIONS BETWEEN JAPAN AND NORTH AMERICA: A CHALLENGE TO THE INTERNATIONAL LEGAL SYSTEM

An air
of
optimism abounded
in
early 1994 regarding trade relations among the
major economic powers and the system
of
rules and agreements which attempts to
manage these relations. After nearly eight years
of
contentious negotiation and
three years after its original completion date, an agreement was reached on the
Uruguay Round
of
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The
United States, Canada, and Mexico had recently signed the North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and thereby recognized that cooperation served their
mutual economic, political
and social interests.
The
Fall 1993
conference
of
theAsian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was heralded as improving trans-
Pacific trade and investment. In the words
of
United States Treasury Secretary
Lloyd Bentsen, the APEC brought promises
of
"cooperation, consultation and
commitment" among APEC nations, including Japan, Canada, and the United
States