By necessity, the United States and Japan have long given their bilateral economic relationship
high priority. For Japan the importance of the relationship has been rooted in the emergence of the
United States as the world’s largest economic power; Japan’s dependence on the United States for
national security, especially during the Cold War; the dependence of Japanese manufacturing
industries—autos, consumer electronics, and others—on exports to the United States; and the
reliance of reform-minded Japanese political leaders on U.S. pressure, แรงกดดันจากภายนอก, to press for
economic reforms in a political system that strongly protects the status quo.