NEWS & EVENTS

On Thursday, February 7, 2019, the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies and Dr. Kent Calder hosted Mr. Samuel Kidder, Former Executive Director of The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ) to discuss his career in US-Japan business diplomacy.

Drawing upon his work for the US Commercial Service and the ACCJ, Mr. Kidder explained the key events and issues of US-Japan commercial ties between the “trade frictions” of the 1980s and the TPP negotiations of the 2010s. He explained how the successes of US trade diplomacy with Japan were often hampered by a short institutional memory on the American side, which complicated efforts to ensure Japan complied with the agreements it signed.

He closed by describing how the increasing diversity and openness of the American business community in Japan is strengthening the ACCJ.