Japan’s auto industry faces uncertainty amid US tariff threats
Like so many other companies in Japan, big and small, this one making suspension units for cars and vans, is trying to navigate the baffling imposition of US tariff policy. It moved some production from its plant in China to this one south of Tokyo to avoid high tariffs set by the Trump administration. But now tariffs on China have been reduced and with the threat of higher tariffs on Japan, it might have to move production back there again. We don’t know how this tariff issue is going to be settled and what the impact will be, whether we should be manufacturing more in Japan or China. We’re very confused. And confusion spells trouble for the Japanese economy where the auto industry employs more than 8% of the total workforce and accounts for 10% of economic output. The fear is auto tariffs could have a wider recessionary impact just as economic prospects are improving. This trade shock it seems couldn’t come at a worse time for Japan. Wages have been rising and people have been spending more. After years of stagnation, it appears the country has been on track for an economic turnaround. A meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada between Japanese Prime Minister Shigerro Ishiba and US President Donald Trump failed to reach a breakthrough amid concerns normally good relations between the two allies could spiral into a tit fortat trade war. I don’t think Japan would likely retaliate to hiking Japanese import from the US because that would further deteriorate uh Japanese economy. So I do hope Japanese government and business to be somewhat patient.
As the world’s fourth biggest economy, especially holding so much US debt, Japan represents a considerable adversary. Japan has very strong cards to play because Japan is the largest owner of US bonds and we all know that President Trump is very scared of bond deals going higher. So the bottom line is that the Japanese are very confident that they will get the right deal for Japan and what that whether that’s a good deal for the United States of America is a completely different question. And like for so many other countries in Asia, however this trade war plays out, it seems relations across the Pacific will remain altered for some time to come. Rob McBride, Alazer Tokyo. Make sure to subscribe to our channel to get the latest news from Alazer.
US President Donald Trump is threatening to impose tariffs as high as 35 percent on Japan, if a trade deal between the two countries isn’t reached.
That’s generating uncertainty in the Japanese auto industry.
Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride reports from Tokyo, Japan.
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9 Comments
Yet a good USA partner
Why everyone wants to tap into the US consumer market I don't understand..I mean there are other countries in the world too you know
So good
Al Jazeera – the BBC of the Arab world – state sponsored propaganda
Amerikkka first 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 Japan is just one of our proxy states, do what you get told to do!😂😂😂
Japan should break free from the strings that binds.
Japan's auto industry has overcapacity. China should eclipse Japan.
That huge chinese market everyone was excited over. 1 billion consumers. No its the american market and consumer everyones making a lot of money on. Every country has a deficit with the us. And american blue collar workers were thrown under the bus. So tarrif away
Japanese automakers already produce 3.3million cars in US and even export 300k cars from US to elsewhere including to Japan. And this tariff thing has been since 80's scapegoating Japanese automakers only because US makers do not have to make decent cars. What basically Trump is demanding the world is exactly the same as François Mitterrand, who was very socialistic protectionist in the past.