{"id":8651,"date":"2026-03-18T22:55:23","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:55:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/japans-exports-beat-forecasts-with-4-2-growth-in-february-but-exports-to-china-and-the-us-declined\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T22:55:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:55:24","slug":"japans-exports-beat-forecasts-with-4-2-growth-in-february-but-exports-to-china-and-the-us-declined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/2026\/03\/18\/japans-exports-beat-forecasts-with-4-2-growth-in-february-but-exports-to-china-and-the-us-declined\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan’s exports beat forecasts, with 4.2% growth in February, but exports to China and the US declined"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Negishi Maru crude oil tanker is headed to JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation’s Negishi refinery in Yokohama city, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.<\/p>\n

Kiyoshi Ota Bloomberg | getty images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Japan’s exports rose 4.2% in February from a year earlier, marking a sharp slowdown after hitting their highest level in more than three years in January. <\/p>\n

However, the increase was more than the 1.6% increase expected by economists polled by Reuters, and better than the 16.8% rise in the previous month.<\/p>\n

Exports to mainland China, Japan’s biggest trading partner, fell 10.9%, while shipments to the US fell 8%. The total value of auto exports to the US, Japan’s biggest export item, fell 14.8%.<\/p>\n

Tokyo’s exports to Washington may further weaken after America Section 301 announced<\/a> The investigation could lead to reimposition of tariffs. <\/p>\n

This comes after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s “reciprocating” tariffs in February. <\/p>\n

Despite a decline in exports to its top trading partners, other Asian economies picked up the slack, with exports to Hong Kong rising 32.3% from a year earlier. <\/p>\n

Exports to a group of 11 Southeast Asian countries including Indonesia and Thailand rose 5.1%. The total value of outbound goods to the regional group exceeded that of mainland China, making it Japan’s second-largest export destination in February.<\/p>\n

Shipments to Western Europe also increased by 17.5%, supported by sales growth in Germany and the UK of 10.9% and 18.9%, respectively. <\/p>\n

Japan’s export growth in February was supported by a 25.1% rise in the value of semiconductor exports, while motor vehicle exports rose 2.5% year on year. <\/p>\n

The export data comes just ahead of the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting on Thursday, as well as Prime Minister Sanae Takachi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump on the same day. <\/p>\n

Imports into Japan rose 10.2%, compared with an expected 11.5% rise and a 2.6% decline in January. <\/p>\n

This is breaking news, please check back for updates.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Choose CNBC as your favorite source on Google and never miss a moment of the most trusted name in business news.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Negishi Maru crude oil tanker is headed to JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation’s Negishi refinery in Yokohama city, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. Kiyoshi Ota Bloomberg | getty images Japan’s exports rose 4.2% in February from a year earlier, marking a sharp slowdown after hitting their highest level in more than three years in January.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[3486,2721,3488,3485,2542,3487,2845,3484],"class_list":{"0":"post-8651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bible-news","8":"tag-beat","9":"tag-china","10":"tag-declined","11":"tag-exports","12":"tag-february","13":"tag-forecasts","14":"tag-growth","15":"tag-japans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8651"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8651\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8653,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8651\/revisions\/8653"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christiancorner.us\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}