In 1987, a prominent New York businessman took out a full-page newspaper ad warning that Japan was “taking advantage” of the U.S., decrying the massive trade deficit between the two countries.

Earlier this month, that same businessman, now President Donald Trump, once again took aim at the U.S.-Japan trade deficit. In his meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Trump’s complaints about the trade deficit ended with a costly threat of tariffs.

In the 1980s, Japan’s booming economy was widely considered to be on a path to becoming America’s foremost economic rival. By 1992, the trade race became so acrimonious that nearly two out of three Americans said they consciously avoided purchasing Japanese products.

But Japan’s rapid rise was already ending. Americans were boycotting goods from an economy reaching collapse. Japan’s asset-price bubble burst in 1992, marking the beginning of the country’s “lost decade.”

Instead, a different East Asian country — China — began its rise to become America’s No.1........

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