TOKYO — Japan’s trade deficit was 1.7 trillion yen ($10.7 billion) in the fiscal year that ended in March, the government said Wednesday, the fifth straight fiscal year of deficits.<\/p>\n
Exports rose 4% from the previous year, while imports inched up just 0.5%, the Finance Ministry reported. <\/p>\n
U.S. President Donald Trump’s higher tariffs on imports from Japan and other countries have proven to be a harsh blow for global automakers and other manufacturers. Japan’s overall exports to the U.S. fell 6.6% in the last fiscal year, with shipments of autos dropping 16%.<\/p>\n
However, Japan\u2019s trade surplus rose 26% in March from a year earlier in a sign that the export sector is recovering from last year\u2019s shocks. Exports jumped nearly 11.7% in March and imports rose almost 10.9%. <\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s auto giants<\/a>, like Toyota Motor Corp., have moved much of their production to nations where the vehicles are sold to avoid suffering from such policy shifts. But some automakers still export a large share of their vehicles to the U.S. from Japan.<\/p>\n Japan imports nearly all of its oil and gas and the war with Iran has raised worries over disruptions of oil shipments<\/a> from the Middle East. Apart from the impact on energy, shortfalls of oil can affect production of naphtha-related products which are key for medical supplies and other plastics.<\/p>\n