As the United States imposes reciprocal tariffs on trading partners worldwide starting this month, Japanese corporations are struggling to devise countermeasures. Reports indicate that they are considering increasing production levels in the U.S. or raising product prices to alleviate tariff pressures.
According to the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) on the 6th, Nissan, which has been producing vehicles for export to the U.S. at its factory in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu, is considering producing this volume in the U.S. as early as this summer to be exempt from high tariffs applied when exporting to the U.S.
Last year, Nissan sold approximately 920,000 units in the U.S., of which 150,000 units, or 16%, were exported from Japan. The vehicle that Nissan is pushing for increased production in the U.S. is the sport utility vehicle (SUV) 'Rogue.' The production capacity of the Rogue at the Fukuoka plant is about 120,000 units per year. Facing poor performance, Nissan initially planned to reduce production at its U.S. plants but decided to increase production due to President Trump's tariff policies.
Toyota, which exports the most Japanese vehicles to the U.S., is expected to maintain the current system for the time being while considering countermeasures, according to Nikkei. The newspaper reported that 'there is a possibility that other auto manufacturers will also increase cases of transferring production from Japan to the U.S.' It added, 'The value of automobile shipments accounts for about 10% of Japan's gross domestic product (GDP),' predicting that the transfer will lead to a decline in GDP, making the establishment of measures against industrial hollowing out a key challenge for Japan.
Nintendo has postponed the pre-sale of the 'Nintendo Switch 2,' the successor to the 'Nintendo Switch,' in the U.S. Originally, Nintendo planned to start selling the Nintendo Switch 2 at $449.99 (about 660,000 won) on the 9th. While there will be no change to the release schedule, there is a possibility that the selling price in the U.S. will increase, according to reports from Yomiuri Shimbun and others.
Nintendo has previously produced the Nintendo Switch in locations such as China and Vietnam. However, President Trump decided to impose reciprocal tariffs of up to 46% on Vietnam and a total of 54% on China, leading to significant setbacks.
Meanwhile, the International Trade Commission (ITC) forecasts that, due to the tariff policy of the Trump administration, Japan's export volume could decrease by $1.7 billion (about 24.8 trillion won) by 2029. The ITC particularly pointed out that automobiles make up a large portion of Japanese exports.