There is fear that Japan will have a dominating role in any East Asian economic grouping, and with the whole of East Asia with her will therefore be more "confrontational" vis-a-vis other countries and regions. But in fact, the worst nightmare of other East Asian nations would be to see GATT fail to liberalize trade and witness the developed countries raise trade barriers and increase protectionism.
有人擔心東亞國家在日本的主導下，會形成強大的貿易壁壘，事實上，東亞國家的噩夢是，烏拉圭談判失敗，無法促進貿易自由化，只能眼睜睜看著已開發國家樹立起貿易障礙。