Vekasi quoted in CNBC report on South Korea-Japan trade battle
Kristin Vekasi, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Maine, was quoted in the CNBC report “South Korea-Japan trade fight risks ‘further escalation.’” Japan moved to impose trade restrictions on exports to South Korea of three high-tech materials, which are critical for manufacturing semiconductors, the article states. According to Vekasi, Korean and Japanese firms historically have been insulated from political tensions, and that businesses are well positioned to call on their respective governments to soften their positions. She expects the Japan Business Federation might take steps along that line, the article states. “They are aligned with the Abe government in that they would like the issue to be settled by the terms of the 1965 treaty,” Vekasi wrote in an email to CNBC. But the business community in Japan does not seem to “favor Abe’s approach making normal trading relations more difficult/putting barriers in place.”