manufactured imports to be reassessed. In the early 1980s, fear of vulnerability remained strong and fed the continuation of policies and behavior that kept manufactured imports unusually low compared with those of the other industrial nations. Only with the large decline in raw material prices and the explosion of trade surpluses did policies and behavior begin to change. After more than 30 years had trade surpluses, in 2011 the trade deficit came to 2.49 trillion yen ($32 billion), but the previous trade deficit came in 1980 was still a record by 2.6 trillion yen. See also Economic relations of Japan Economy of Japan Economy of China References - Japan Further reading Bhagwati, J. (1988) Protectionism, The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts Dick, A. (1995) Industrial Policy and Semiconductors: Missing the Target, AEI Press, Washington, D.C. Greaney, T. (1996) "Import Now! An Analysis of Market-share Voluntary Import Expansions (VIEs), Journal of International Economics 40 149-163. Parsons, C. (2002) "Did the US-Japan Semiconductor Trade Agreement Have any Impact?" Asian Economic Journal 16(1) 37-51.DOI: 10.1111/1467-8381.00141 External links Japanese-US Economic Relations from the Dean Peter Krogh Foreign Affairs Digital Archives Foreign relations of Japan Economy of Japan Public policy in Japan Japan