I wonder how much the American Trade War against Japan has contributed to Japans stagnation/"the lost decades".
If I remember correctly then Japan was about to take over the USA in terms of the GDP, but started to become strong in many key industries, and then Raegan, who was running under "Let's make America great again" slogan, initiated the anti-Japanese trade war.
And if I am not mistaken or am not simplifying too much then Trump was even hiring the same consultants from that "anti Japan" trade war to start the trade war with China.
The Plaza accords were basically this. It was conducted much more amicably than the current brow-beating with China though. I'm sure they had their reasons but Japan was probably a little overconfident in agreeing to those terms at the time.
If I remember correctly then Japan was about to take over the USA in terms of the GDP, but started to become strong in many key industries, and then Raegan, who was running under "Let's make America great again" slogan, initiated the anti-Japanese trade war.
And if I am not mistaken or am not simplifying too much then Trump was even hiring the same consultants from that "anti Japan" trade war to start the trade war with China.