Japan’s April Trade Surplus With U.S. Record $5.15 Billion

Japan, sharply boosting exports of cars and business machines, posted a $5.15-billion surplus in trade with the United States in April, a one-month record in dollar terms, the Finance Ministry announced today.

Currency changes have caused a sharp increase in the dollar value of Japanese exports to the United States, even though Japan says the volume of its exports is gradually declining.

Japan’s previous monthly record surplus in U.S. trade was $4.98 billion in October. For all of last year, Japanese sales in the United States exceeded U.S. sales here by $58.6 billion.

The record surplus came as the U.S. Congress was considering measures against countries that run large surpluses in their trade.