The last trade agreement of the US President Donald Trump included a well -known, though somewhat forgotten, requirement to the Japan “open its country” to US -imported cars, possibly rejuvenating a controversial issue since the 1980s and 1990s.
For decades, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. Other companies are trying to sell their cars in Japan, but their sales remain few. In 2024, Japan exported nearly 1.4 million cars to the US, but imported just 16,000 American cars. Donald Trump, for his part, asks Tokyo to lift the obstacles to the import of US cars.
The reasons for explaining the non -popularity of US cars are well known: they are very energy -efficient, too big for the narrow streets of Japan and are not designed for domestic preferences. Although US automakers have presented models that respond to these reviews, local car buyers seem to prefer German cars to others and this trend does not seem to change soon, according to Bloomberg.
“The previous attempts had limited success. However, as consumer preferences turned to mini van, such as Odyssey, specifically manufactured for Japan, and SUVs, such as first-generation CR-V CR-V, imported cars made in the US gradually lost their attractiveness, “said Tatsuo Yoshida, Bloomberg Intelligence car.
The overall effect is now projected to be about 1.9 trillion yen with 15%duties, Goldman Sachs Co. analyst Japan Co. Kota Yuzawa, a down review from the previous estimate of about 3.5 trillion yen with 25%duties.
Trump repeatedly condemned the imbalance as “unfair” during the trade negotiations that started earlier this year.
According to Ryosei Akazawa, the country’s top negotiator in the trade agreement announced on Wednesday, Japan agreed to resign additional security tests for US vehicles.
“This means that Japan will simplify the certification of cars manufactured in the US. Ensure public security will of course be a prerequisite. “Akazawa said on Wednesday (23.7.25).
The Japanese government plans to exploit the network of local car dealers for the sale of cars from the US, Kyodo, citing anonymous source, said. Officials are also planning to encourage Japanese automakers to export their US -manufactured cars in Japan, according to the report.
In the 1990s, bilateral tensions led to an attempt to increase imports from the US, with some Japanese automakers “reinstating” cars manufactured or assembled in North America in their own country.
Although these efforts have contributed to the compensation of part of the imbalance, they never managed to gain ground, as the different regulations of the two countries on vehicle security proved to be a particularly expensive obstacle.
During an early effort in 1996, GM’s Chevrolet Cavalier was introduced and sold by Toyota Motor Corp. With her own brand, but she never had success.
“The vehicle was not specifically designed for the Japanese market, so it did not have the perfection and perceived quality of Japanese models and sales remained very low,” Yoshida said.