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Japan’s exports slowed in the first 20 days of April as the US tariff campaign intensified with new car and across-the-board levies.
Exports measured by value rose 2.3% from the same period a year earlier, the Finance Ministry reported Friday. That compared with a 4.2% gain in the first 20 days of March, and a 4.0% rise for that whole month. Growth in exports has averaged 6.1% over the year through March.
Items that contributed most to the slowdown in export growth were autos, steel, and mineral fuels, according to a Finance Ministry official. The ministry did not provide a further regional or amount-based breakdown of the trade figures.
The impact of a stronger yen compared to a year ago likely explains the slowed increase in trade value, said Hiroshi Miyazaki, a senior research fellow at Itochu economic Research Institute, adding that it was unlikely it had been caused by a drop in the quantity of items exported.
“It is certainly possible that the US tariffs will lead to a gradual decline in exports, but I don’t think that there will be a sudden drop as soon as tariffs are raised,” he said.
Japan’s trade balance was in the red, with a deficit of ¥242 billion ($1.7 billion). The early data don’t provide details such as a breakdown of exports to specific countries or regions. The data for the full month of April is set to be released on May 21.
In early April, the Trump administration hit Japan with a 25% tariff on cars and a minimum 10% levy on goods across the board, after slapping the country with additional levies on steel and aluminum in March. The car tariff was expanded to auto parts later, although partial relief measures were taken.
Japan is hoping to get a trade agreement with the US in June, but there is no sign yet that it’s poised to get a full removal of all tariffs before the 10% across-the-board levy returns to its original 24% in early July, once the period of temporary reprieve comes to an end.
The levy on cars and auto parts, Japan’s most lucrative exports to the US, is of particular concern for the nation, as some economists expect the economy to have contracted in the first quarter of this year even before the tariffs began hitting the nation.