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A Brave New World for Trade

Editorials
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Lettre du Centre Asie
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Lettre du Centre Asie, No. 72, December 2017
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The global environment for trade is undergoing significant changes. New emerging players such as China are aiming to adapt the rules and institutions inherited from the postwar Bretton Woods system.

 

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With the administration of Donald Trump, the US is revising its international posture to adopt a more inward-looking and unilateral attitude under the motto of “America First” that jeopardizes the dynamics for multilateral engagements and more liberal and ambitious norms for trade. Against this background, major economic powerhouses such as the EU and Japan are adjusting their strategy to fight back against protectionism and to uphold high-level principles for future practices for trade.  

This note offers the main conclusions of the discussions held during a conference at Ifri, on November 15, 2017.

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978-2-36567-822-3

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A Brave New World for Trade

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Author(s)
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Céline PAJON

Céline PAJON

Intitulé du poste

Research Fellow, Head of Japan and Indo-Pacific Research, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri

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Center for Asian Studies
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Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.

The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands. 

The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.

The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.

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Emmanuel Macron in Japan and South Korea: A Historic Opportunity for Euro-Asian Rapprochement

Date de publication
02 April 2026
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President Emmanuel Macron is touring Japan and South Korea at a time when the interests of these three countries have never been more aligned, and more broadly between Europe and East Asian democracies.

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Afghanistan-Pakistan: The Overlooked War at the Margins of the Middle East Conflict

Date de publication
31 March 2026
Accroche

Pakistan has historically maintained the closest ties to the Taliban movement and initially viewed its return to power in Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 with considerable optimism. The bilateral relationship has since deteriorated, and the two neighbors have been caught in a cycle of escalation since last fall. In October 2025, Pakistan launched its first airstrikes on Kabul. For three weeks in February–March 2026, Afghanistan intensified ground assaults on the Pakistani side of the border as well as drone attacks on Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Pakistan, for its part, has intensified airstrikes on Afghan border areas, as well as on Kabul and Kandahar. Given the dynamics at play at the bilateral and regional levels, the prospects for a sustained return to stability appear limited.

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European Union-India: Lasting Rapprochement or Partnership of Convenience?

Date de publication
26 February 2026
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The partnership between the European Union (EU) and India has long been limited to economic exchanges. Its political dimension has gradually developed, culminating in its elevation to the status of a “strategic partnership” in 2004. However, the failure of negotiations for a free-trade agreement in 2013 slowed this momentum. Since the early 2020s, in an uncertain geopolitical context, bilateral rapprochement has gained new momentum.

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Japan’s Takaichi Landslide: A New Face of Power

Date de publication
11 February 2026
Accroche

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has turned her exceptional popularity into a historic political victory. The snap elections of February 8 delivered an overwhelming majority for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), driven by strong support from young voters, drawn to her iconoclastic and dynamic image, and from conservative voters reassured by her vision of national assertiveness. This popularity lays the foundation for an ambitious strategy on both the domestic and international fronts.

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How can this study be cited?

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Céline PAJON, « A Brave New World for Trade », Editorials, Lettre du Centre Asie, Ifri, 21 December 2017.
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A Brave New World for Trade