• Korea Trade Review
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• v.43 no.3
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• pp.47-74
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• 2018

The United States is often perceived as a free-trading nation as it significantly contributed to the establishment of the GATT and WTO in the 20th century. With the inauguration of the Trump Administration in 2017, however, trading partners of the United States are faced with great concerns over the 'new' aggressive, protectionist and above all, unilateral trade threats posed by the United States under the name of 'America-First' trade policy. However, the recent unilateral trade actions by the United States are not new, but has historically and continuously been used to protect its key industries, like the automobile sector. This paper analyzes the historical cases of the unilateral trade policy of the United States in the automobile industry, targeting Korea and Japan in the 1980s, 1990s and 2010s. Then, we draw future implications for other key industries of the United States such as IT, intellectual property, services and agricultural sectors. This study evaluates whether such unilateral practices have brought successful and expected outcomes in favor of the United States.