Japan reports $63 billion trade surplus with US as it talks with Trump on tariffs

Japan recorded a trade deficit in its March-April fiscal year but racked up a surplus with the US, the Finance Ministry reported on Thursday (April 17).Japan’s global trade deficit totalled 5.2 trillion yen ($37 billion) for the fiscal year through March, for the fourth straight year of deficits, according to the provisional statistics. The surplus with the US ballooned to 9 trillion yen ($63 billion).
Exports to the US are a contentious issue for US President Donald Trump and Japanese negotiators are in Washington to argue their case against higher US tariffs. Japan is a key longtime US ally and major investor in the US, employing hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Trump said on April 2 that he planned to impose a 24% tariff on imports from Japan as part of an announcement of higher tariffs on dozens of countries. After financial markets panicked, he put a partial 90-day hold on the import taxes, while increasing his already steep tariffs on Chinese goods to as much as 145%.Read more: Donald Trump says ‘big progress’ made in Japan talks on tariff deal

Japan still faces a 10% baseline tariff and a 25% tax on imported cars, auto parts, steel and aluminium exports. Most of those duties took effect recently, but they pose a grave challenge for embattled Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Some analysts say Tokyo could at some point announce surprise concessions, like importing more American rice. Rice holds a special place in the Japanese psyche as the nation’s staple and has long been a protected sector in Japan. But recently a rice shortage has been pushing up prices.

Japan’s annual exports climbed 5.9%  from a year earlier, helped by strong shipments of goods like computer chips and vehicles. Imports rose 4.7% . But a weaker Japanese yen made imports more costly. A recent influx of foreign tourists to Japan has pushed exports higher, since such spending counts as exports.

Read more: Fitch slashes world and India growth forecasts as trade war escalates

For the month of March, Japan recorded a trade surplus of 544 billion yen ($4 billion). Exports climbed nearly 4% from a year earlier, for the sixth straight month of gains, although the surge was slower than in February.

Exports to the US rose 3%, while shipments to the rest of Asia grew 5.5%. Exports to China fell, while shipments to Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea surged.

“This is likely due to the rerouting of exports within Asia to avoid tariff conflicts with the US,” Min Joo Kang, a senior economist at ING, said in a report.