Japan’s Slumping Exports Show Limits of Riding China’s Coattails
Toyota SUVs bound for shipment at a port in Yokohama, Japan, in October.
Photographer: Toru Hanai/BloombergJapan learned another hard lesson about how China alone can’t pull it out of a trade funk as the coronavirus ravages other major shipping destinations.
Japan’s exports unexpectedly extended declines in November for the first time in six months, the finance ministry said Wednesday. The value of shipments slid 4.2% from a year earlier, a disappointing result given the consensus forecast for the first positive reading in two years.