, Columnist
Take Coronavirus, Add a Trade War and Raise Taxes
Japan is facing a trifecta of challenges with severe economic consequences. At least one could have been avoided.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
One of the world's most pivotal economies is reeling from a self-induced policy mistake. Japan is now paying the price for last quarter’s consumption-tax hike, just as it begins to wrestle with the impact of the coronavirus.
Japan's gross domestic product tanked 6.3% in the final three months of 2019, the Cabinet Office said Monday, almost twice the drop economists anticipated and the worst result in five years. There's a good chance Japan will fall into recession, given how much the virus has already curtailed activity this year.