The economic assessment of Japan was remained steady, showing gradual recovery and policymakers were confident about the decent upswing after the decline in Jan-March quarter. Also, the forecast for consumer expenditure remained to marked as “recovering” as well as the gradual expansion for capital spending outlook was unchanged. In the previous months, consumer expenses include dining out and home electronics while figures for leading indicators of business investment showed an increase. Moreover, Japan’s economy contracted to an annualized 0.6 percent in Q1, partly because of low private consumption and ended its best growth performance since the 1980s bubble economy. Most of the economists believed that the downturn will be short-lived, however, there are concerns about how strong will Japan’s rebound due to increasing risks from trade protectionism. The Trump administration continue to impose heavy tariffs on $50 billion worth Chinese imports while China’s Commerce Ministry told that the country will get back to the US with “the same scale and strength,” and that triggered fears for an all-out trade war. US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum which affected Japanese businesses and further criticized Japan because of its low imports level for US vehicles.
