> I'm old enough to remember how the "Japanese economic miracle" was going to inevitably overwhelm the US

I'm also old enough to remember that in the 1980s Japan had become the world's second-largest economy and there were serious concerns in Washington that Japan might eventually surpass the United States economically. The Reagan administration began putting considerable economic leverage and measures to create pressures intended to destabilize Japan's economy. There's historical agreement on this intent. See 1985 Plaza Accord to inflate the Japanese yen. See 1986 US-Japan Semiconductor Agreement to restrict Japan's dominance in DRAM chips.