Japan's GDP has returned to negative growth in the past six quarters

Xinhua news agency, Tokyo, November 17 (reporter liuchunyan) - the preliminary statistical results released by the Japanese Cabinet Office on the 17th showed that the US government's imposition of tariffs significantly reduced Japan's exports. After deducting price changes, Japan's real gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 1.8% at an annual rate in the third quarter of this year, with negative growth again since the first quarter of 2024.

Data show that Japan's GDP fell 0.4% month on month in the third quarter. Affected by the US tariff policy, exports of goods and services fell 1.2% month on month in the third quarter, while imports fell 0.1% month on month due to weak domestic demand. The contribution of foreign demand to economic growth in the quarter was negative 0.2 percentage points.

In terms of domestic demand, personal consumption, which accounted for more than half of Japan's economy in the quarter, increased slightly by 0.1% month on month; Equipment investment of another pillar enterprise of domestic demand increased by 1.0% month on month, and public demand including government consumption and public investment increased by 0.5% month on month. At the same time, private residential investment decreased by 9.4% month on month, and private inventory changes also inhibited the growth of domestic demand in the quarter. Overall, the contribution of domestic demand to economic growth in the quarter was negative 0.2%.

Japanese media and experts said that the U.S. government began to impose automobile tariffs and the so-called "equivalent tariffs" in April, which hit Japan's export industry represented by automobiles, was an important reason for the negative growth of Japan's economy in the third quarter. In addition, the downturn in residential investment and inventory investment also dragged down economic growth in the quarter.

The Cabinet Office of Japan previously released a medium-term economic forecast report, saying that in view of the downward pressure on the economy caused by the U.S. tariff policy and the consumption weakness caused by the continuous rise in prices, the Japanese government lowered the economic growth forecast for fiscal 2025 (April 2025 to March 2026) from 1.2% to 0.7%.