Japan had a record trade surplus last year.
The trade surplus reached a record $39.5 billion as exports to the United States rose nearly 9% and imports of American goods fell 4%, Japan’s Finance Ministry reported. The ministry’s preliminary report on Japan’s surplus with the United States is much lower than the $50-billion imbalance that U.S. authorities have estimated. The discrepancy results from different methods for calculating imports and exports. Japan does not include insurance and freight charges when totaling its exports, but the United States does.
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