By DAISUKE MATSUOKA/ Staff Writer
March 20, 2025 at 13:04 JST
Vehicles for export are lined up at Daikoku Pier of the Port of Yokohama. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Japan’s automobile industry will work with the government to avoid additional tariffs proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, a top industry official said, but automakers already appear prepared for the measure.
Masanori Katayama, chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, said March 19 that automakers may have to adjust production if Trump imposes an approximately 25-percent tariff on imported vehicles, a 10-fold increase from current levels.
“(The proposed tariffs) will generate an adverse influence on both the Japanese and U.S. economies,” Katayama, who is also chairman and chief executive officer of truck maker Isuzu Motors Ltd., told a news conference.
Katayama emphasized that Japanese automakers are making “substantial contributions” to the U.S. economy through employment and investment as members of “Corporate America.”
He added that the U.S. market is critical as the top export destination.
According to the association, Japanese companies assembled 3.2 million vehicles in the United Stares in 2023.
They employ about 2.2 million workers in the country, including those hired indirectly.
Trump is expected to announce details of his proposed automobile tariff of about 25 percent on April 2.
U.S.-bound automobile exports from Japan have surged since the beginning of the year, according to the Finance Ministry’s trade statistics.
Chisato Oshiba, an economist at the Dai-ichi Life Research Institute, wrote in a research report that shipments likely rose due to a rush in demand before the proposed tariff hikes.
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