A remark made by U.S. President Donald Trump, that Japan drops bowling balls on U.S. cars during inspection to shut them out of the market, later described as a joke by the White House, has left Tokyo perplexed.
During a fundraising speech in Missouri on Wednesday that was transcribed by The Washington Post on Thursday, Trump criticized Japan for conducting unfair inspections on U.S. cars to keep them out of the Japanese market.
"It's called the bowling ball test, do you know what that is? That's where they take a bowling ball from 20 feet up in the air and they drop it on the hood of the car. And if the hood dents, then the car doesn't qualify. Well, guess what, the roof dented a little bit, and they said, nope, this car doesn't qualify. It's horrible, the way we're treated. It's horrible," he reportedly said.