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International Relations of the Asia-Pacific Advance Access published online on April 5, 2008
International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, doi:10.1093/irap/lcn001
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© The author [2008]. Published by Oxford University Press in association with the Japan Association of International Relations; all rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

US economic statecraft in East Asia1

Maryanne Kelton

School of Political and International Studies, Flinders University, SA, Australia
Email: maryanne.kelton{at}flinders.edu.au

Linkage politics in the US were revived after the terrorist attacks in 2001 as the US endeavored to bolster its position in the international system. This paper examines current US economic statecraft in East Asia, particularly through the use of the preferential trade agreement instrument. As the US encounters increasing threats in the region through China's economic and military expansion, the emergence of Islamic militancy, and continuing tensions on the Korean peninsula, it is attempting to reinforce its strategic position through the economic reinforcement of its bilateral politico-military alliances. However, as the establishment of its recent free trade agreements has revealed, neo-mercantilist politics, as motivated by US Congressional attention to domestic lobbying, present a risk to this strategy. It is possible that this tendency to economic nationalism, as evidenced in the Australia–US Free Trade Agreement, will detract from the broader purpose of reinforcing the US strategic position in the region.

1 I wish to thank Richard Leaver, Andrew O'Nell, Alex Stephens, Noel Tracy and the reviewers for their comments on an earlier draft. This paper was originally presented at the Second Oceanic Conference on International Studies at the University of Melbourne, July 2006. I am grateful for comments from the conference's participants.

Received for publication April 10, 2007. Accepted for publication February 19, 2008.


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