Trump’s economists should study what happened in Japan and South Korea
Yong Suk Lee
The Hill, May 29, 2025
The Trump administration’s economic strategy — achieving trade surpluses and deploying tariffs and non-tariff barriers to protect domestic industries and promote growth — is reminiscent of the strategies that Japan and South Korea pursued during their periods of rapid economic growth in the mid-20th century. Japan experienced annual growth rates averaging around 10 percent from the 1950s through the 1970s, while South Korea achieved similar rates from the 1960s to the 1980s. The economic model behind the rapid economic growth by Japan (and later South Korea) was often referred to as “administrative guidance,” reflecting significant government intervention in industrial organization, banking and trade compared to more free-market economies.