Japan Trade Surplus With U.S. Jumps to $5.15 Billion

Japan said Wednesday that its trade surplus with the United States jumped to $5.15 billion in April, a record in dollar terms, but U.S. economists said the volume of Japanese exports has actually started to shrink.

The huge April surplus mainly reflects statistical fluctuations and currency changes, said David G. Hartman, chief international economist for Data Resources Inc. in Lexington, Mass.

“The Japanese are scared to death because of the trouble they’re having selling into the United States,” Hartman said. “It’s hard to imagine that this monthly blip in trade is anything more than that, a blip.”

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

In addition, the U.S. government has imposed 100% tariffs on $300 million worth of Japanese electronic products in retaliation for Japan’s alleged failure to abide by a semiconductor trade agreement.

The trade surplus rise was led by a surge in exports of cars and business machines, Japan’s Finance Ministry announced.

Meanwhile, Japanese imports from the United States rose just 0.7% from a year earlier, reflecting the pinch on Japan’s export-oriented economy from the sharp rise in the Japanese yen’s value.

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, according to U.S. figures. A big reason for the bigger Japan surplus is the dollar’s decline against the yen.