Japan's Trade Surplus with U.S. Drops 50% in August... Auto Exports Down 28%

Trade Surplus with the U.S. Hits Lowest Level Since January 2023

Japan's trade surplus with the United States in August dropped by nearly half.

Reuters Yonhap News

According to preliminary trade statistics for August released by the Japanese Ministry of Finance on September 17, the trade surplus with the United States was 324 billion yen, down 50.5% from the same period last year. This is the smallest figure since January 2023.

Last month, exports to the United States fell by 13.8% to 1.3855 trillion yen, marking a decline for the fifth consecutive month. Imports from the United States increased by 11.6% to 1.0615 trillion yen.

The overall trade balance recorded a deficit of 242.5 billion yen. The trade deficit continued for the second consecutive month. Exports decreased by 0.1%, while imports decreased by 5.2%.

In particular, exports of automobiles-a key Japanese export-to the United States dropped by 28.4% to 307.6 billion yen. The number of vehicles exported also fell by 9.5% to 86,480 units. In addition, exports of construction and mining machinery to the United States declined by 26.1%, and exports of semiconductor and other manufacturing equipment fell by 38.9%.

Kyodo News reported that "Japanese companies continue to increase exports of lower-priced models that are less affected by tariff hikes," and noted that attention is focused on whether automobile exports will recover as U.S. tariffs on Japanese cars are reduced from the previous 27.5% to 15%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.