Many in the US feared that, just as the nineteenth century had been British and the twentieth century had been American, the twenty-first century would be Japanese. But, unlike the British or the Americans, the Japanese allegedly were gaining ground in nefarious ways, exporting aggressively to the US and unfairly excluding US exports from their domestic market.
20世纪80年代的反日风潮发展得很快。许多美国人担心，正如19世纪是英国的世纪、20世纪是美国的世纪，21世纪将是日本的世纪。但是，和英国人和美国人不同，日本人的崛起是不光彩的，是通过大量向美国出口以及不公平地将美国货排除在其本身国内市场之外实现的。