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Japan’s global exports rose 3.7% in October from a year earlier while imports from the world edged up 0.6%, according to government data released Friday.
Exports to the U.S. dipped 3.1%, marking the seventh straight month of year-on-year declines mainly due to higher U.S. tariffs, Finance Ministry data showed.
President Donald Trump announced a trade framework with Japan in July, placing a 15% tax on goods imported from that nation. That’s lower than the 25% rate Trump initially said would kick in starting in August. Previously, tariffs on most goods stood at 2.5%.
It’s a heavy burden for an export dependent nation that is a major U.S. ally, but shipments to the rest of Asia are helping to offset those lost sales.
Japan’s soybean imports from around the world surged 37.3% from a year earlier, while imporyts of iron and steel products dipped 17.1%.
Imports from the U.S. jumped 20.9% in October from a year earlier, mainly petroleum and food such as grains.
Exports of computer parts and other machinery and buses and trucks to the U.S. declined.
Japan’s exports to China climbed 2.1% last month from a year earlier. Exports to Hong Kong surged 19.2%, while those to Taiwan were up 17.7%.
As a result, Japan narrowed its overall trade deficit to 231.77 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in October, down from 499.95 billion yen a year earlier.
New worries have emerged recently over trade with China after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, the nation’s first female leader, made comments about Taiwan that have angered China,. That prompted Beijing to issue an advisory against travel to Japan.
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Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama