Editing John McEwen (section)

===Trade negotiations===
Beginning in the early 1950s, McEwen and his departmental secretary [[John Crawford (economist)|John Crawford]] played a key role in the normalisation and acceleration of the Australia–Japan trade relationship. Prior to World War II, Japan had been one of the largest destinations for Australian exports.{{sfn|Golding|1996|p=173}} The resumption of trade after the war was politically sensitive, due both to lingering [[Anti-Japanese sentiment in Australia|anti-Japanese sentiment]] – including from several of McEwen's parliamentary colleagues who had been prisoners-of-war – and concerns from Australian manufacturers over the cheaper cost of labour in Japan.{{sfn|Golding|1996|p=192}} McEwen came to see the resumption of trade with Japan as important for Australian producers, as Australia sought new markets outside the existing framework of [[Imperial Preference]].{{sfn|Golding|1996|pp=173-174}}

McEwen first put forward a cabinet proposal to enter into trade negotiations with Japan in July 1953, which was rejected although an accompanying recommendation to liberalise restrictions on Japanese imports was accepted. He eventually secured cabinet approval for trade talks with Japan in November 1954, on his third attempt.{{sfn|Golding|1996|p=174}} In February 1955, he also persuaded cabinet to agree to Japan's accession to the [[General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade]] (GATT),{{sfn|Golding|1996|p=190}} although Australia and many other former Allied powers invoked an exception under Article 35 of the GATT treaty allowing them to continue to discriminate against Japan.{{sfn|Golding|1996|p=197}} After years of negotiations, McEwen and his Japanese counterpart [[Kishi Nobusuke]] signed the Japan–Australia Commerce Agreement in July 1957, with each country conferring [[most favoured nation]] status on the other and Australia providing a commitment to revoke its Article 35 exception.{{sfn|Golding|1996|p=194}} This eventually occurred in 1960 after McEwen secured Japanese concessions on imports of Australian beef. The final discriminatory trade provisions were removed in a new agreement signed in 1963.{{sfn|Golding|1996|pp=197-198}}

The trade agreement with Japan "ushered in a new era of Australian trade which would make Japan immeasurably Australia's biggest trading partner".{{sfn|Golding|1996|p=195}} Its signing was regarded as a personal triumph for McEwen, who was its main advocate in the government and bore much of the political risk. According to [[Malcolm Fraser]], Menzies only authorised McEwen to negotiate in his own name, not on behalf of the government, and "if it had gone wrong Menzies could have disowned him up to the moment the government accepted the agreement".{{sfn|Golding|1996|p=192}} In 1973, the Japanese government awarded McEwen the [[Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun]], making him only the second Australian politician after [[Edmund Barton]] to receive the honour.{{sfn|Golding|1996|p=199}}