Japan racks up trade deficit amid threat from Trump's tariffs

TOKYO (AP) — Japan sank into a trade deficit of 2.2 trillion yen ($15 billion) for the first six month of this year, according to government data released Thursday, as exports were hit by President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

In June, Japan's exports slipped 0.5% from a year earlier after its shipments of vehicles and other products were slapped with a 25% tariff. Trump has postponed implementing that higher import duty until Aug. 1, to allow time for negotiations but so far no deal has been reached.

Exports in June totaled nearly 9.2 trillion yen ($62 billion), in the second straight month of declines. Imports in June rose 0.2% to 9 trillion yen ($61 billion), the Finance Ministry said. That left a trade surplus of 153 billion yen (just over $1 billion). The trade deficit in May was 637.6 billion yen, or $4.4 billion.

Japan's exports to the United States fell 11% in June, with auto exports plunging 25%. Shipments to China decreased by nearly 5%. Exports to Mexico, a major auto assembly hub for North America for Japanese automakers, fell nearly 20%.

In the first half of the year, Japan's exports totaled 53.4 trillion yen ($360 billion), up 3.6%, while imports rose 1.3% to 55.6 trillion yen ($375 billion).

Japan and the U.S. have been holding trade talks, with Japanese officials stressing that Japan is a key U.S. ally.

Trump has focused on rice, a sector traditionally protected from foreign competition for the sake of Japan's food security. Japan imports more than 300,000 tons of rice a year from the U.S., according to various data, although some of that is used for animal feed.

Japan will hold an election for the Upper House of Parliament on Sunday. Given falling public support for Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's administration, the conservative and pro-business ruling Liberal Democratic Party could lose its majority unless it gains another coalition partner.

Japan’s economy contracted at an annual rate of 0.7% in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous quarter, partly due to slowing exports.

Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: https://www.threads.com/@yurikageyama

FILE - A car, center, is moved to another location of the area where export vehicles are parked at Daikoku Pier in Yokohama, near Tokyo, Tuesday, April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae, File)

A Ukrainian drone strike killed one person and wounded three others in the Russian city of Voronezh, local officials said Sunday.

A young woman died overnight in a hospital intensive care unit after debris from a drone fell on a house during the attack on Saturday, regional Gov. Alexander Gusev said on Telegram.

Three other people were wounded and more than 10 apartment buildings, private houses and a high school were damaged, he said, adding that air defenses shot down 17 drones over Voronezh. The city is home to just over 1 million people and lies some 250 kilometers (155 miles) from the Ukrainian border.

The attack came the day after Russia bombarded Ukraine with hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles overnight into Friday, killing at least four people in the capital Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials.

For only the second time in the nearly four-year war, Russia used a powerful new hypersonic missile that struck western Ukraine in a clear warning to Kyiv and NATO.

The intense barrage and the launch of the nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile followed reports of major progress in talks between Ukraine and its allies on how to defend the country from further aggression by Moscow if a U.S.-led peace deal is struck.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday in his nightly address that Ukrainian negotiators “continue to communicate with the American side.”

Chief negotiator Rustem Umerov was in contact with U.S. partners Saturday, he said.

Separately, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russia targeted Ukraine with 154 drones overnight into Sunday and 125 were shot down.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

This photo provided by the Ukrainian Security Service on Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, shows a fragment believed to be a part of a Russian Oreshnik intermediate range hypersonic ballistic missile that hit the Lviv region. (Ukrainian Security Service via AP)

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second left, listens to British Defense Secretary John Healey during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Danylo Antoniuk)