According to foreign media reports, as the deadline for the Trump administration’s “reciprocal” tariffs to take effect is approaching, Japan is continuing to negotiate trade agreements with the United States, and Japanese car companies are also exploring various options to help alleviate the trade imbalance between Japan and the United States. Among them, Toyota is considering returning its cars produced in the United States to the Japanese market or introducing cars produced by American brands in its Japanese dealer network.
Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met on May 1. Toyota Executive Vice President Hiroki Nakajima also attended the meeting.
Hiroki Nakajima said, “Toyota produces a large number of cars in the United States, and if the trade deficit between Japan and the United States is a problem, we can consider importing American Toyota cars into the Japanese market.” ”
Image source: Toyota Motor
He added: “If American car companies want to bring cars to Japan, I think it is an option to use Toyota’s sales network to sell these cars. According to him, there are currently only 163 stores in Japan that sell American cars, while 1,930 stores sell European cars and more than 4,000 Toyota’s own stores. Yuki Nakajima said, “Akio Toyoda also mentioned this when he met with Shigeru Ishiba, and we didn’t say that we would definitely do it, but we did discuss this possibility.” ”
If Toyota does this, it will not be the first time that the company has sold an American brand car in Japan. In the 90s, Toyota sold the Chevrolet Cavalier produced by General Motors and the Scepter station wagon manufactured by Toyota in the United States.
At the same time, in the face of the possible continuation of the 25% tariff imposed by Trump on imported cars from April 3 this year, Japanese car companies are raising the price of cars sold in the United States or further increasing the United StatesCapacityto deal with it.
Trump said last week that the U.S. government has begun sending letters to countries informing them of the tariff rates they will face on goods exported to the United States. Trump also said, “I’m not sure if we can reach an agreement with Japan, they are very tough,” and hinted at the possibility of imposing reciprocal tariffs of up to 35% on Japanese goods exported to the United States, compared with the previous tariff rate of 24% on Japan.
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba also showed no signs of compromise, telling reporters: “We must protect national interests, Japan is the largest investor in the United States, which is different from other countries.” Shigeru Ishiba also pointed out that bilateral trade should be based on mutual investment, not mutual tariffs, and cited Nippon Steel’s plan to invest in the U.S. steel industry as an example. Currently, the Japanese government insists that the United States exempt its cars from tariffs.
Ryutaro Kono, chief Japanese economist at BNP Paribas, pointed out in a recent research report that automobile tariffs are still Japan’s biggest concern. He particularly emphasized: “Any plan to maintain a 25% automobile tariff rate or not set a low tariff quota will be difficult to get approval from the Japanese government.” ”
Trump has long complained about the low share of American cars in the Japanese market. According to data from the Japan Automobile Importers Association, from January to June this year, among the newly registered imported cars in Japan, the Jeep brand accounted for 2.51%, Cadillac accounted for only 0.16%, and Chevrolet was as low as 0.11%.
Although Japan has eliminated tariffs on imported cars since 1978, Trump insists that Japan has non-tariff barriers against American cars. In early negotiations with the Trump administration, Japan is said to have considered simplifying the approval process for American-made cars in Japan, but the progress of this idea is unclear.
Yuki Nakajima emphasized that if foreign brands want to gain widespread recognition in the Japanese market, they need to make some localization adjustments. First of all, the streets of Japan are narrow, and the size of the car needs to be adjusted. Secondly, road accidents in Japan are mostly vehicles hitting pedestrians, not vehicle collisions, so Japan’s product regulations pay more attention to the protection design of cars for pedestrians in accidents rather than the protection of drivers.
In addition, due to the surge in accidents caused by elderly drivers in Japan mistakenly using the accelerator as a brake, Japan requires cars to be equipped with sensor-activated automatic braking systems.