While the U. S. takes aim at China, Canada and Mexico over perceived trade imbalances, Japan has kept a low profile, hoping Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s friendship with golf buddy Donald Trump will keep Tokyo out of the firing line. But as Abe and Trump prepare to hold talks
While the U. S. takes aim at China, Canada and Mexico over perceived trade imbalances, Japan has kept a low profile, hoping Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s friendship with golf buddy Donald Trump will keep Tokyo out of the firing line.
But as Abe and Trump prepare to hold talks that will touch on trade frictions, there are signs Japan could be next in the U. S. president’s sights, with the country’s greatest fear being higher tariffs on cars.
Trump has frequently grumbled about a «very high deficit» with Japan, the world’s third-biggest economy.
In comments to the Wall Street Journal, he stressed his good relations with the Japanese, before adding menacingly: «Of course, that will end as soon as I tell them how much they have to pay.»
Last year’s deficit in goods traded with Japan was $68.8 billion, third behind China ($375 billion) and Mexico ($71 billion), and less than a tenth of the total U. S. deficit with the rest of the world ($796 billion).
The deficit amounted to $40 billion in the first eight months of this year, according to official U. S. statistics.
Vehicle and parts exports from the auto sector account for 80 percent of the imbalance and it is the sight of «millions of Japanese cars» on American roads that raises Trump’s hackles, while few U. S. brands are driven in Japan.
That has little to do with tariffs — Japan has no duties on imported cars, unlike the United States which imposes a 2.5 percent levy.
Analysts say with their larger sizes, U. S. vehicles are not well suited to Japan’s roads or the tastes of its consumers.
Critics argue, however, that Japan imposes a raft of non-tariff barriers — including what they say are overly-rigorous safety standards — that make importing difficult.
