Japan's exports grew at an 11.4% annual pace in February while imports declined slightly, leaving a surplus after two straight months of deficits as worries grow about President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes.
The stronger export growth yielded a trade surplus last month after two straight months of deficits, the Finance Ministry said Wednesday.
Japan recorded a trade surplus of 584 billion yen ($3.9 billion) last month. It had a trade deficit of 415 billion yen the previous year. The surge in exports outpaced a 7% annual increase in January. Exports totaled 9.19 trillion yen ($61 billion), while imports fell 0.7% to 8.61 trillion yen ($57 billion).
In January, imports jumped nearly 17% year-on-year.
Japan's exports have surged in recent months as businesses rushed to send overseas shipments before Trump’s tariffs kick in.
Higher U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum have already started, but the biggest threat to the Japanese economy will come in auto tariffs that are due to take effect next month. Japanese officials have been seeking an exemption from the Trump administration for Japan, an important trading partner and ally of the U.S.
Japan’s exports to the U.S. grew 10.5% in February while imports from the U.S. fell 2.7%, compared to a year earlier, leaving a surplus of 918.8 billion yen ($6.2 billion).
Exports to Asia jumped about 16% from a year earlier while those to Europe fell 4.5%.
A large share of the jump in exports included food, machinery and vehicles.
Imports from the Middle East fell as oil prices declined.
Also Wednesday, Japan's central bank chose, as expected, to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.5%. The central bank has been gradually raising the key rate from below zero to counter rising inflation, but Trump's policies have raised uncertainty over the global economic outlook as well as trade.
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12 Comments
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HopeSpringsEternal
The Reciprocal tariffs are coming, as DLT likes to say, "April 2nd is Liberation Day for America".
No carveouts for Japanese auto, steel, etc. Going to be a hectic time, countries and companies will have to either cut tariff rates or reshore to US or become uncompetitive in the US market that's +25% of global GDP
HopeSpringsEternal
The Reciprocal tariffs are coming, as DJT likes to say, "April 2nd is Liberation Day for America".
No tariff carveouts for Japanese auto, steel, etc. Going to be a hectic time, countries and companies will have to either cut tariff rates, reshore to US or pay the tariff and become uncompetitive in US market that's +25% of global GDP
Blackstar
*The Reciprocal tariffs are coming*
Oh yeah? So what are the tariffs that you believe Japan is currently applying?
Speed
It doesn't matter. The tarrifs are getting slapped on Japanese exports regardless.
HopeSpringsEternal
US tariff discussions underway across world, including in Japan with US. What remains to be seen, how much countries will reduce their tariffs to avoid US reciprocity.
Certainly Japan's 700% rice tariff to be matched, making rice exports to US impossible, but industries to be impacted in nearly every sector to varying degrees.
Do not forget, Trump Admin will also add any "non-tariff' barriers to their overall increased 'reciprocal' tariff amount
HopeSpringsEternal
For BOJ, #1 problem's rapid decrease in number of and aging of households. Fundamentally destroys consumption and thus, how Japan can expect to grow its way to prosperity, especially with trade tensions rising?
More Keynesian Govt. spending no longer possible with rising rates and giant accumulated debt in need of servicing
Peter Neil
“reciprocal” tariffs? japan has no tariff on cars; u.s. has an existing tariff on cars and a 25% tariff on pickup trucks.
high tariffs reduce imports, so the government takes in very little money from the domestic companies that pay it. the idea that tariffs can be used to offset deficits is lunacy.
the results are always the same - domestic importers of goods have reduced income, layoff workers or go out of business completely.
domestic producers increase prices to match the imported price for profit taking since buyers have no choice.
the federal debt ratio is less than the debt ratio of households.
Peter Neil
trump rarely does what he says he’s going to do, but the chaos and uncertainty is already driving japanese companies to further develop non-u.s. markets.
capital investment in the u.s. by japanese companies will dry up until trumpism and his tariff fantasies are gone.
bass4funk
Actually, he always does what he says he wants to do, it's just the Democrats and their proxies try to block him as much as possible.
To a certain small extent
No, because they will continue with Vance.
TokyoLiving
Well done Japan..
Let the haters bark..
Peter14
These tariff's of Trumps are against everyone and are not reciprocal in most cases, as with Australia who has no tariffs on 99% of US goods, thanks to the AUSFTA. But continue with that huge lie as nobody is buying it but Republicans.
Keep lying, not reciprocal.
May as well tell Trump your going to reshore to manufacture in the US only after tariffs are removed, and then cancel it after Trump is out of office.
Trump is putting tariffs on everything to bleed middle class Americans dry with these taxes and give billionaires the tax breaks they so clearly need to survive. Or simply stop doing business with the US. Since Trump pays no tax, these tariffs dont bother him one bit.
bass4funk
No, not at all.
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/tariffs-good-trump-china
The claim that tariffs are inherently misguided and inevitably harmful does not stand up to scrutiny. The verdict of history is clear. No country ever industrialized by pursuing free trade. Britain in the 18th century and the U.S. and Germany in the 19th century went from being agricultural backwaters to industrial great powers thanks to tariffs, while Japan and South Korea and Taiwan and China have developed with functionally equivalent nontariff barriers protecting their own infant industries and reserving their own home markets for their producers.
It is true that tariffs raise the prices of imports relative to domestically made goods. That is their purpose, after all. But once they have been adopted, competition among domestic producers and productivity growth can lower prices for consumers, as happened in America’s protected domestic markets before World War II. And given the alternatives—dependence on hostile or unstable foreign regimes for essential military, commercial, and medical supplies—the price of strategic protectionism can be worth paying.
Makes absolute and perfect sense. Again, most people get it and once you drown out the hysterical lib media noise and propaganda in the background in many ways you welcome this.
Since they are the job creators, they absolutely should get a tax break; you want to spur the economy and help create opportunities and jobs, higher wages equals more people with disposable income, who then later spend the money that gets taxed and that goes back into the economy. You need rich people without them, you essentially have money because they make things happen aj
Then they would be cutting their own throats and Europe knows this.
U.S. goods exports to the EU were valued at around $300 billion, that is no small, chump change.
He absolutely pays taxes, it's online and for the public to view.