Japan’s export controls weighed not only on Korean companies from Samsung Electronics Co. to SK Hynix Inc. but also on Japanese businesses such as Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. and Tokyo Ohka Kogyo Co., hurting their competitiveness compared with firms in China.

The latest diplomatic breakthrough between Seoul and Tokyo will boost technological cooperation between the two as they brace for a global economic downturn amid elevated interest rates and geopolitical tensions.

It is also a welcome development for the US, which has been working to realign global supply chains that are less reliant on China.

The U.S. is offering more incentives for foreign companies building factories and increasing investment on its soil, with the Inflation Reduction Act among key examples. The Biden administration also plans to limit the activity of firms that benefit from its Chips and Science Act that provides incentives for the US semiconductor industry.

The deal between Yoon and Kishida won’t immediately transform supply chains built up over decades with China, but it suggests a shift in thinking over which relationships need to be prioritized.

China remains the No. 1 importer of South Korean products and Seoul is pinning hopes on a Chinese rebound from Covid lockdowns for its own economic recovery this year. South Korea’s economy last quarter contracted from the previous three months largely on a slump in exports to China, with chip demand particularly battered.

How much China’s reopening will actually help South Korea is a question, though. Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong said last month that the country’s benefits from trade with China would not be the same if demand was centered on consumer goods rather than intermediate products.

China’s share in South Korean exports is also on the decline, with the two nations overlapping in more and more of the products they market to the world.

Beijing has been investing more in its ability to produce high-tech products from semiconductors to batteries at home. That is increasingly turning its trade relations with Japan and South Korea contentious rather than cooperative.

Areas of competition include electronics, health care and automobiles — which are among a handful of categories Yoon designated as core growth engines for his country’s economy when he announced a 550 trillion won ($422 billion) investment plan led by private sectors on Wednesday.

For Japan, the political rationale for rapprochement with South Korea is strong. American support is a crucial prop amid the challenges presented by China, North Korea and Russia. Washington has been seeking to re-unite Seoul and Tokyo via its three-way security front.

The deal between Yoon and Kishida doesn’t mean their nations have put an end to historical spats arising from Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. But in a joint interview before departing for Tokyo, Yoon focused on mutual benefits.

“I believe we must end the vicious cycle of mutual hostility and work together to seek our two countries’ common interests,” he said.

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