Japanese manufacturers brace for possible US import tax
tokyo — Japanese manufacturers are wary of a possible US border tax, with just over half expecting profits to take a hit if the United States slaps a 20 per cent levy on imports, a Reuters poll showed on Monday.
In response, they are thinking of cutting costs, increasing production and procurement in the United States and raising US product prices, but those steps would offset only some of the impact, the monthly Reuters Corporate Survey found.
The United States is the top destination for Japanese shipments. The House Republicans’ proposal to tax imports at 20 per cent could hurt Japan’s vital automobile, electronics and other exporters.
“We’d have to consider setting up production facilities in the United States,” wrote a manager at a rubber company. “But in the longer term, it could lead to a shift away from the US for the manufacturing industry as a whole.”
In the monthly survey, conducted March 7-21 for Reuters by Nikkei Research, 51 per cent of the 129 manufacturers that responded said earnings would be affected. The ratio was highest among automotiverelated firms, at 77 per cent.
The figure is lower for Japanese companies overall, at 36 per cent of the 246 that participated in the survey, which includes service-sector and other non-manufacturing firms that focus more on the domestic economy. The plan for a border adjustment tax, backed by House Speaker Paul Ryan, is intended to encourage investment and manufacturing in the United States and pay for corporate tax cuts.
President Donald Trump, under his “America First” campaign, has called Japan’s auto trade “unfair” and is pressuring carmakers including Toyota Motor Corp to build more plants and create jobs in the United States. — Reuters