Among the major events that occurred in Asia in 2019 were four that received global attention: the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the US-China trade war, the North Korean nuclear issue, and protests in Hong Kong. These events have significant policy implications for the world as well as for Asia.

This special issue focuses on the rise of mega-FTAs—which involve efforts to liberalize trade across geographical regions with a multiplicity of countries—in the Asia-Pacific. We examine how the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in this region have faced political resistance as negotiators attempt to address behind-the-border issues.

Like other proposed mega-FTAs, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is intended to address twenty-first-century trade issues. The attributes of the RCEP negotiations are unique, however—being shaped by the dominant political interests in its member states and by the particular character of economic interdependence in the region.

This paper argues that political rather than economic motivations explain Japan’s approach to services negotiations but that the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Trade in Services Agreement present Japan with opportunities to advance liberalization in services as well as to pursue political gains in the competition for regional leadership with China.