要旨
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The EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EJEPA) entered into force on February 1st, 2019. The agreement was quickly coined the “cars-for-cheese deal”: Agri-food seemed to be the largest winner on the European side while Japan stood to gain most from automotive exports. Up until the final negotiations, however, agrifood was a major stumbling block. Through a qualitative content analysis of EJEPA coverage in five Japanese newspapers with different political and industry profiles,
this article examines media treatment of food as a controversial part of the EJEPA. While narratives differed depending on political and industry leanings, we find that the perceived threat from the EJEPA regarding food was often placed within a larger social imagery of a new global order and disadvantageous trade deals, through a conflation with the recently established Trans-Pacific Partnership and its widely reported impact on agriculture. Lastly, beyond a strongly defensive or even victimized narrative in some specialized media, mainstream newspapers also divert attention toward the potential opportunities the EJEPA brings to Japanese exporters and manufacturers.
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