Brookings Press book wins Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize

We are excited to announce that the 2018 Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Prize has been awarded to “Dilemmas of a Trading Nation” by Foreign Policy Senior Fellow Mireya Solís, published by the Brookings Institution Press in August 2017.

Debate over the future direction of trade has catapulted to the top of national discourse in both Japan and the United States, and each country will face difficult choices in charting their paths ahead as trading partners.

In “Dilemmas of a Trading Nation,” Solís chronicles those challenges and describes how Japan and the U.S. will pursue their desired, yet somewhat contradictory, goals: economic competitiveness, social legitimacy, and political viability.

Tokyo, for its part, has long aimed for greater decisiveness that would allow it to move away from a fragmented policymaking system favoring the status quo, enable meaningful internal reforms, and acquire a larger voice in trade negotiations. Washington, meanwhile, must confront a fraying domestic consensus in favor of internationalism that is essential to sustain its leadership role as a champion of free trade. At stake could be a bilateral alliance central to America’s diplomacy in Asia and the reaffirmation of a rules-based international order that has been a source of postwar stability.

Below, you can watch Mireya Solís discuss her book at a Brookings event with Foreign Policy Senior Fellow Richard C. Bush and Wendy Cutler, vice president and managing director of the Asia Society Policy Institute.

For more information on “Dilemmas of a Trading Nation” and to purchase your own copy, click here.