Levies cast shadow on Japan's economy

Japan's exports rose 2.3 percent in the first 20 days of April compared to a year earlier, a slowdown from 4.2 percent in the same period of March and 4 percent for the full month, the Ministry of Finance reported on Friday.

This marks a notable slowdown from the 6.1 percent average growth seen over the year through March and suggests early effects of the US tariff campaign. According to a ministry official, the decline was driven largely by weaker exports of autos, steel, and mineral fuels.

The United States has rejected Japan's request for full exemption from both a 10 percent baseline tariff applied to all countries in early April and a 14 percent country-specific tariff, Kyodo News reported on Monday.

Masakazu Tokura, chairman of the Japan Business Federation, also known as Keidanren, urged the Japanese government during a regular news conference held in Tokyo on Wednesday to "persistently continue negotiations to ensure that all tariff measures are reviewed" in the ongoing Japan-US talks.

"The impact of high tariff measures is already being felt by companies," Tokura said.

Among Japanese companies, there is growing concern that the US tariffs could trigger a global economic slowdown. Tokura noted that sectors such as automobiles, steel and aluminum are heavily affected by tariffs, but added that across industries, more than the direct effects, many are worried about the uncertain outlook causing declines in both consumption and investment.

Toyota Motor Corporation announced on Thursday that its net profit for the fiscal year ending March 2026 is expected to be 3.1 trillion yen ($21.35 billion), down 34.9 percent year-on-year.

Regarding the scale of the impact from the additional US tariffs, Koji Sato, president of Toyota Motor Corporation, said: "The situation is fluid, so it's very difficult to predict. …In the short term, we should consider adjusting our export destinations (such as to the US), and in the medium to long term, we need to firmly establish a model of local development and production."

Amid heightened uncertainty over the impact of US tariffs, the Bank of Japan recently revised its forecast for Japan's fiscal 2025 GDP growth to 0.5 percent, down from the previous estimate of 1.1 percent.

At the Asian Development Bank's 58th Annual Meeting in Milan, which concluded on Wednesday, member countries expressed concern over the US tariff policies, as signs of a slowdown emerging in Asia's once-robust economic growth.

"Modern economies are deeply interconnected, and openness to trade has benefited both advanced and developing nations, reducing inequality and lifting hundreds of millions of people out of extreme poverty," Bank of Italy Governor Fabio Panetta said at the meeting on Monday. "Protectionism threatens to undo these achievements and to weaken the very fabric of global prosperity."

Contact the writers at jiangxueqing@chinadaily.com.cn