Expertise

International Economy, Trade Law, Trade Policy, Intellectual Property and International Standards, Investment Policy, Technology Policy, Digital Economy, Global Value Chains, Industrial Policy

Research Projects

Case Studies and Future Directions of the Global Trading System and Governance (October 25, 2011 – July 31, 2012 )

Education

1977 Bachelor of Law, the University of Tokyo

Experience

2022- Senior Research Fellow, Japan Economic Foundation (JEF)

2020- Member, Trade Action Group, World Economic Forum

2018-2022 Vice Chairman, Japan Machinery Federation (JMF)  (2022-  Special advisor to JMF)

2011-present Special advisor to JETRO

2011-2012 Principal Trade Negotiator, METI

2008 President, Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)

2006 Director-General for International Trade Policy, METI

[2006-2008 Negotiator for Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)]

2004 Deputy Director-General, Economic Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA)

2003 Deputy Director-General, International Trade Policy Bureau, METI

2002 Director for Manufacturing Industries Policy, Manufacturing Industries Bureau, METI

[2002-2008 Negotiator for five Japanese FTAs (Mexico, Philippines, Brunei, Indonesia, and Switzerland)]

2000 Co-chairman, APEC WTO Capacity Building Group

1995 Director, Tariff Division, International Economic Affairs Department, International Trade Policy Bureau, Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI, current METI)

[1995-1997 Negotiator for Information Technologies Agreement (ITA)]

Selected Publications and Papers

• “Cross-Border Digital Trade and E-commerce Governance and Necessary Actions Ahead” in Lurong Chen and Fukunari Kimura. eds, “Developing the Digital Economy in ASEAN,” Routledge (2019)
• “Will the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Reshape the Global Trade and Investment System? Regional and Systemic Implications: Issues and Options,” White Paper, Global Agenda Council on Trade & FDI, World Economic Forum (July 2016), co-authored
• “Will the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Reshape the Global Trade and Investment System? What’s In and What’s New: Issues and Options,” White Paper, Global Agenda Council on Trade & FDI, World Economic Forum (July 2016), co-authored
• “The High and Low Politics of Trade: Can the World Trade Organization’s Centrality Be Restored in a New Multi-Tiered Global Trading System?” World Economic Forum (August 2015), co-authored
• “A world without the WTO: what’s at stake?” CEPR Policy Insight No 84 (July 2015), co-authored with Richard Baldwin
• “Sectoral and Plurilateral Approaches in Services Negotiations: Before and After TISA” ECIPE POLICY BRIEF02/2015 (March 2015)
• “Plurilateral agreements: A viable alternative to the WTO?” in Richard Baldwin, Masahiro Kawai, Ganeshan Wignaraja, eds, The Future of the World Trading System: Asian Perspectives, VoxEU eBook (June 11, 2013) and A World Trade Organization for the 21^stCentury, Edward Elgar (2014)

Working Papers

• ‘The G20’s Potential Role in Fighting against Protectionism and Advancing WTO Reforms‘ in How the G20 Can Help Sustainably Reshape the Global Trade System, ICTSD, October 2018, pp71-79
• “Services Negotiation and Plurilateral Agreements: TISA and sectoral approach,” RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series (14-P-023), September 2014.
• “Plurilateral Agreements: A Viable Alternative to the World Trade Organization?” ADBI Working Paper No.439, October 2013.
• “Exploring Future Application of Plurilateral Trade Rules: Lessons from the ITA and the ACTA,” RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series (12-P-002), February 2012.
• “Exploring Future Application of Plurilateral Trade Rules: Lessons from the ITA and the ACTA,” RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series (12-P-009), May 2012.
• “Comprehensive Responses to Global Value Chains in the Era of Mega FTAs: From the perspective of trade strategy,” RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series (13-P-016), August 2013.
• “Services Negotiation and Plulirateral Agreements: TISA and sectoral approach,” RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series (14-P-002), February 2014.
• “Promotion of digital trade and responses of East Asian countries — Necessity of multi-pillar approaches with WTO and FTAs as the central pillars,” RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series (22-P-006), April 2022.

Policy Proposals

• “Toward the Reform of the WTO and the Early Conclusion of the Doha Round,” December 2011.
• “Concept Paper for an International Supply Chain Agreement (ISCA) – Improving global supply chains by an issues-based plurilateral approach,” October 2012.

Essays

• “Collaboration Between FTA & the WTO for the Development of Global Value Chains” Michitaka Nakatomi, Japan Spotlight May/June 2014, P32-35
• “Global Value Chain Governance in the Era of Mega FTAs and a Proposal of an International Supply Chain Agreement,” Policy Update, September 6, 2013.
• “Global value chain governance in the era of mega FTAs and a proposal of an international supply-chain agreement,” VoxEU Columns, August 15, 2013.

Others

• Roundtable discussion on a rules-based global economy in Japan SPOTLIGHT (Sep, 2019), Japan Economic Foundation
  https://www.jef.or.jp/journal/pdf/227th_Cover_Story_02.pdf