Honda cars line up at a vehicle storage area at an industrial port in Yokohama, near Tokyo, on July 23, 2025, the day U.S. President Donald Trump signed a trade deal with Japan that lowers auto import tariffs.
Kim Kyung Hoon | Reuters
Japan’s exports rose 6.1% year-on-year in November, the fastest growth in nine months this year, according to Japan’s Ministry of Finance data released on Wednesday.
The growth was significantly higher than the average 4.8% expected by economists polled by Reuters, and above the 3.6% seen in the previous month.
Exports were supported by a 23.6% increase in exports to Western Europe and an 8.8% increase in exports to the United States, the country’s second largest trading partner. Exports from Japan to the United States increased for the first time since March.
Although automobile exports decreased by 4.1% in value terms, the number of automobiles shipped to the United States in November recovered, increasing by 1.5% from the same month last year.
The data was released after revised third-quarter GDP figures showed Japan’s economy contracted more than initially expected, by 0.6% from the previous quarter, or 2.3% on an annualized basis.
Shipments to mainland China decreased by 2.4%, but exports to Hong Kong increased by 11.4% year-on-year. Food exports to mainland China decreased by 5.9% in value terms.
In November, tensions between Japan and China escalated after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that if China tried to occupy Taiwan by force, it could trigger Japanese military intervention and that the Chinese government could restrict imports of Japanese seafood.
Imports to Japan increased by 1.3% in November, compared to an expected increase of 2.5%.
Trade and diplomatic tensions aside, Japanese companies are positive about business growth, with the Bank of Japan’s Tankan survey showing that sentiment among Japanese companies, especially small-scale manufacturers, mostly improved in the fourth quarter.
Jesper Coll, a specialist director at Tokyo-based financial services firm Monex Group, highlighted the growth in semiconductor and equipment exports, saying the US-led high-tech spending boom was leading to increased exports of specialized machinery and equipment.
Exports of electrical machinery increased by 7.4% from the previous year, and semiconductor-related exports increased by 13%, which Koll said is “evidence of Japan’s competitiveness in supplying machines that make machines.”
“The market is underestimating the positive impact of the U.S. capital investment boom, and much of what’s going into new data centers, AI hardware enablers and power centers are Japanese-made and can only be made in Japan,” Coll added.
