A sign of things to come?

摘要

Press reports last month indicated that Japan was planning to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Indonesia's export restrictions. This was not greeted with much surprise. Japan is not mineral rich and so relies heavily on imports to fulfil demand for technological and construction end markets. Following the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami, Japan has worked hard to rebuild damaged buildings, relying heavily on imports to do this.