Japan Exports: Updated Oct. 25, 2025.

Japan exports to US down 10.2% in April-September amid higher tariffs

Article source: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20251022/p2g/00m/0bu/015000c

Ideas

Its possible the US tariff situation might have finally began to effect Japan's exports to the US, but a decrease of 10 percent may or may not be as bad as what was expected, but again maybe for some Japanese exporters it might be a more a major problem.

The US, for the most part, has usually been if not the largest but at least the second largest country Japan exports next to China, which recently has been a little down related to exports.

Japanese car exporters to the US might have shifted their strategies some from luxury type cars, which of course are more expensive, to lower-priced cars to try and offset the US tariff situation and also to appeal more to US consumers who might be feeling the effects of the tariff situation too.

Who knows exactly why imports might have declined as maybe a change in the Japanese yen might have made imports less expensive which might have been a reason for the decrease to 6.93 trillion yen.f

Japan is a resource-poor country which means it has to import much of what it needs and as a result the Japanese yen, being weak recently, has increase the value of imports into Japan, which causes importers to pass-on their costs to the next in the supply chain including the final retail customer in Japan.

Yes, the price increases by Japanese automakers might have had an effect on US consumers as they might still be feeling the effects of past inflation and maybe their disposable income is not where it should be and as the price of Japanese cars might be going up they are thinking twice about buying a new Japanese car at this time.

The challenge in Japan is how will the shareholders of Japanese automakers react to less profits and earnings due to the decrease in sales in the US. Are they going to understand the overall situation or are they just going to be like most shareholders today and demand the same or even more profits from the Japanese automakers.

While it normal or natural for Japanese automakers to use a lot its resources in making cars for the US market as it is or was one of japan's largest export market.

It would be wise, which is common knowledge, Japan automakers need to re-invest in not only China but also the EU to try and regain market share that Japan might have lost since the pandemic.

And then there is the rest of South East Asia, which continues to have a growing middle class which might be interested or looking for new Japanese car to purchase.

And then there is the growing middle class in Central and South America too where they might be looking for a new Japanese car.

So the point is there are many other markets, globally, besides the US that Japanese automakers need to continue to export to and continue to gain more market share in those other regions besides the US.

China might be going through some kind of shift in its economy as maybe its beginning to transition from a developing economy to more of an advanced economy or a quasi-advanced economy.

The problem with China, despite it relative wealth in the eastern part of China and the southern part of China, the rest of China might be considered as being left behind which might be effecting the whole of China.

And then there is also the possibility of Japanese automakers losing market share to Chinese automakers with their emphasis these days on electric cars which Japanese automakers are slow to adapt to recently.

Yes, despite the challenges in China, the rest of Asia seems to be much better for Japanese automakers as again the growing middle class in the Asia seems to be willing to buy Japanese cars more and more.

Unfortunately, the EU economy seems to be stuck or stagnant and just doesn't seem to be doing much of anything recently. Blame it on the Ukraine war situation or blame it on the EU not being able or willing to innovate to help its economy grow and or as there are 27 countries in the EU and some of them might be dragging down the entire EU economy.

The Japanese economy is a very staple economy, but recently, the past 20 years or so or maybe even 30 years, as been stuck in a stagnant phase and hasn't been able to really get any kind of momentum going as it has it periods of starts and stops and just can't seem to get it going like it did in the 80's when it was the envy of the world.

The only real positive for the Japanese economy, as of late has been the surge in foreign visitors to Japan, and with the weak Japanese yen, foreign visitors to Japan have more purchasing power which means they are able more, which is helping the Japanese economy some.

The real challenge for the Japanese economy is to get the domestic economy moving which means more spending by Japanese consumers, which at this time, due on the continued increase in inflation are reluctant to spend much.

Have a nice day!