Japan is ramping up trade defense measures by initiating a record number of anti-dumping investigations this year, as it seeks to protect domestic industries from China¡¯s overproduction and sweeping tariffs imposed by the United States.

Anti-dumping measures could become a new norm of international trade. After the mid- to long-term effects of U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s tariffs gradually kick in, countries might turn to these actions as a more institutionalized way to defend their domestic markets.

¡°Inevitably, anti-dumping actions will become a key part of international trade once tariff issues are mostly settled,¡± said Ke Long, an economist at The Tokyo Foundation. ¡°It¡¯s not a uniquely Japanese trend ¡ª it¡¯s global,¡± he added.

Until this year, Japan typically lodged only one or two anti-dumping cases a year ¡ª with the last peaks occurring in 2012 and 2020, both with just two cases, according to public data released by the finance and trade ministries.

So far this year, the government has started three new probes: two that target two types of special processed steel made in China, South Korea and Taiwan, and another focusing on bisphenol A ¡ª a chemical compound used to manufacture plastics ¡ª imported from South Korea and Taiwan.

In August, Japan began an expiry review on whether to extend existing anti-dumping duties on dipotassium carbonate from South Korea.

Separately, following an investigation that began last year and concluded in July, the government imposed a 95.2% anti-dumping tariff on graphite electrodes imported from China, an essential component in electric arc furnaces used to melt steel scrap.

China¡¯s shifting course on exports due to Trump¡¯s tariffs is likely a key reason for the rise in the number of cases this year, said Kazuto Suzuki, director of the Institute of Geoeconomics and a professor at the University of Tokyo.

¡°To put it simply, because of U.S. tariff policies, Chinese products can no longer enter the American market as easily,¡± Suzuki said. ¡°As a result, China is looking for other markets, and, compared to before, a lot more of these excessively produced and dumped cheap products are now flowing into places like Japan and the European Union.¡±

While Tokyo has traditionally taken a cautious and conciliatory approach toward China when it comes to trade and economic relations, changes in the geopolitical climate may have led to a more hard-line stance, The Tokyo Foundation¡¯s Ke said.

¡°In the past, if Japan had acted alone, China would have retaliated harshly ¡ª perhaps not openly, but through behind-the-scenes measures. That¡¯s sort of China¡¯s specialty,¡± Ke said. ¡°But now that the U.S. and the EU are both involved alongside Japan, it¡¯s uncertain whether China still has the same confidence or leverage to...