2. Japan began to open its economy to foreign
competition late in the 1980s. That resulted in a higher rate of
imports, which lowered trade surpluses until early in the 1990s. The
economic decline following the bubble economy era significantly
reduced demands for imports, resulting in the return of large trade
surpluses, with the economic slowdown, the trade surplus had risen.
The return of large trade surpluses in the 1990s has restarted trade
disputes between Japan and its main trading partners, The Asian
Pacific countries, the United States, the European Union (EU) and
the Persian Gulf countries