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April 25, 2025
 

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TARIFFS

Toyota Motor’s sales rose 8% from a year earlier to 231,336 units, while Honda Motor recorded a 13% jump, according to data released Thursday.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2025
Japanese carmakers’ U.S. sales surge ahead of Trump tariffs
Toyota Motor’s sales rose 8% from a year earlier to 231,336 units, while Honda Motor recorded a 13% jump, according to data released Thursday.
Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato is is expected to meet with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 24, 2025
U.S. indicates no hard target for yen ahead of key trade talks
The United States has argued that the yen is too weak, making its value against the dollar a top agenda item in trade discussions.
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 24, 2025
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
The tariffs add another layer of uncertainty for consumers already hesitating due to the yen's weakness and inflation.
New vehicles for sale at a Toyota dealership in El Centro, California. Toyota is planning to spend $88 million at an engine factory in West Virginia to widen its manufacturing footprint in the United States.
BUSINESS
Apr 24, 2025
Toyota to invest ¥12.5 billion in West Virginia plant amid Trump tariff push
The spending will secure the continued employment of some 2,000 workers at the factory, but a spokesman said it won’t result in any new jobs.
"The main message we have on monetary policy is that in times of heightened uncertainty, flexibility and data dependence become paramount,” said Nada Choueiri, the International Monetary Fund’s Japan mission chief, on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 24, 2025
IMF urges BOJ flexibility on rates as tariffs dent outlook
Along with downgraded global growth projections, the IMF's forecast for Japan’s expansion in 2025 was trimmed by 0.5 percentage points to 0.6%.
A worker labors on a spinning machine at a factory in Solo, Central Java, Indonesia in September 2019. For Indonesia, China’s trade power means lost jobs and hard choices.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 24, 2025
Asia would welcome trade deals that exclude China
The real cost to developing countries of China’s trade practices runs deeper: lost jobs can be counted, but missed opportunities can’t.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said he is seeking a "fair deal with China."
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 24, 2025
Trump seeks 'fair deal' with China but pathway unclear
Trump told reporters his country would have a "fair deal with China," adding that "everything's active" when asked if Washington was talking to Beijing.
Economic Revitalization Minister Ryosei Akazawa last week at Haneda Airport. The chief tariff negotiator believes the gap between the United States and Japan on trade issues remains wide.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2025
Mood shifts to measured optimism in U.S.-Japan trade dispute
Japan has so far engaged in a charm offensive aimed at staying onside while politely poking holes in the president's arguments and expectations.
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2025
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
The government hopes an import quota will give them more cards to play in tariff negotiations with the U.S.
Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, poses with a "Make America Great Again" cap at the White House in Washington on April 16.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Apr 23, 2025
Japan wants to 'separate' tariff and security issues. That may be tough.
Disentangling the two will prove a challenge as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to voice long-held complaints about the alliance’s fairness.
Japan has walked a delicate path — taking steps to hedge its dependence on China while distancing itself from the politics of Washington.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2025
Trump’s trade war with China puts Japan in a tight spot
Japan had long maintained deep economic ties with both China and the United States. Recent trade tensions may challenge that approach.
Japan has started discussing specific measures to expand liquefied natural gas imports from the United States to reduce its trade surplus, as demanded by Washington.
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2025
Japan mulls expanding imports of LNG from the U.S. for tariff negotiations
In 2024, Japan imported ¥542.6 billion of LNG from the U.S.
Former Foreign Minister Taro Kono
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2025
Japan must correct Trump’s false data for trade talks, says Kono
Kono said matters related to regional security shouldn’t be discussed as part of the trade talks, nor should the question of how best to manage relationships with China.
Milled rice at a rice mill in Nakhon Pathom province, Thailand
BUSINESS
Apr 23, 2025
Trump tariffs threaten to pile more pain on Thailand's rice sector
Thailand is among the Southeast Asian nations hardest hit by Trump's proposed measures, facing a 36% tariff on goods unless ongoing negotiations are successful.
U.S. Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent says a de-escalation between the U.S. and China will come in the very near future.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 23, 2025
Bessent expects tariff standoff with China to deescalate
The U.S. Treasury secretary is optimistic that tensions could cool in the coming months but cautioned that a larger deal could take longer.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks in parliament on Monday
JAPAN
Apr 23, 2025
Ishiba to launch program to cut gasoline prices by ¥10 a liter
The move comes in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff measures and the rising cost of living.
The yen strengthened dramatically this month — hitting ¥139.9 to the dollar on Tuesday — and could become a topic of conversation in trade talks between the United States and Japan.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Apr 22, 2025
Yen on the march as Plaza Accord 2.0 debate grows
The U.S. has claimed that Japan's currency is undervalued, with some in the administration of President Donald Trump calling for a Plaza Accord 2.0.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi walks as he receives U.S. Vice President JD Vance, his wife, Usha Vance, along with their children, before Vance and Modi's meeting in New Delhi on Monday.
BUSINESS / Economy / ANALYSIS
Apr 22, 2025
As U.S. VP visits India, all eyes on New Delhi’s tariff strategy
Experts warn that India’s response — even if successful — might not offer a blueprint for others since each has a unique relationship with the U.S.
The Japanese economy remains on a gradual recovery trend, the Finance Ministry said, while leaving its economic views unchanged for all of the country's 11 regions.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 22, 2025
Japan's Finance Ministry maintains economic view while warning of risk
Many manufacturers expressed concern about the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs on production, according to the ministry.
Amid trade war uncertainty, central bankers, including Bank of Japan Gov. Kazuo Ueda, are leaning toward cautious policies, with some signaling potential rate cuts while awaiting the fallout from U.S. tariffs.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2025
Rate cuts anyone? Anyone? Ferris Bueller’s tariff lesson
The collective sense of "we don't know” will give way to either hiking or easing. In Asia, the bias appears to favor the latter.
Japan must correct Trump’s false data for trade talks, says Kono
Former Foreign Minister Taro Kono
Japan wants to 'separate' tariff and security issues. That may be tough.
Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, poses with a "Make America Great Again" cap at the White House in Washington on April 16.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Nintendo says demand for Switch 2 console in Japan is overwhelming
An attendee plays with the Nintendo Switch 2 gaming device at a media event in Tokyo on April 3.
Top Japanese firms scrap employment system that held women back
MUFG Bank, a unit of the nation’s biggest banking group, is among firms that recently scrapped a clerical job category that consisted almost exclusively of women, a sign that the financial sector is finally getting more serious about reducing gender inequalities.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game
Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.
Cases of epidural use in labor rise in Japan alongside concerns
Of the 721,000 childbirths reported in 2024 in Japan, 13.8% involved the use of an epidural, according to the Japan Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
Nothing sells like Shohei Ohtani, MLB’s marketing megastar
People walk past an advertisement featuring Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star Shohei Ohtani outside Tokyo Dome on March 18.

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