Japan has second straight year of red ink on trade last year

Japan has had the second straight year of red ink in trade for last year, hurt by a slowdown of demand in China, according to government data released Thursday.

China’s trade tensions with the U.S. has hurt Japan’s trade, with Japan’s exports for 2019 falling 5.6% from the previous year, while imports fell 5.0%.

Japan had a trade surplus of 6.6 trillion yen ($60 billion) with the U.S. last year, as exports fell 1.4% from 2018, and imports fell 4.4%.

President Donald Trump has thrown out past trade deals, including that with China, that he said added to the U.S. trade deficit and cost the country manufacturing jobs.

(Photo credit-AP)