Trump Revives Push for Japan to Increase US-Made Car Imports

US President Donald Trump’s latest trade deal included a familiar, if not somewhat forgotten, demand for Japan to “open their country” to cars imported from the US, potentially breathing new life into a contentious issue from the 1980s and 1990s.

For decades, Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and others have sought to sell their cars in the island nation, but their numbers remain minuscule. Japan exported nearly 1.4 million cars to the US in 2024, but imported just about 16,000 US-built automobiles.