Japan’s economy likely suffered a contraction in the first three months of this year, signaling underlying fragility even before US tariff measures started hitting the country in earnest, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg.

Japan's service-sector sentiment worsened in April on concern over the impact of higher U.S. tariffs, a government survey showed on Monday, a sign uncertainty over trade talks with Washington was beginning to take a toll on the fragile economy.

His remarks echoed comments made on Sunday during his appearance on a Fuji Television program, where he emphasized that Japan's call for the elimination of automobile tariffs remains unchanged. He also noted that Japan differs from the United Kingdom in terms of trade and investment relationships with the US.

The Bank of Japan predicted growth of just 0.5 percent, cutting its previous forecast in half, and decided against another hike in interest rates.

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's wholesale prices rose 4.0% in the year to April, slowing from the previous month as the yen's rebound took pressure off import costs, central bank data showed on Wednesday. But stubbornly high fuel and rice prices underscore the pain companies face from rising raw material costs, the data showed.

Japan’s finance minister says the nation’s massive holdings of U.S. Treasurys can be “a card on the table” in negotiations over tariffs with the Trump administration.

Tariffs could cost Japan's second-largest automaker up to 650 billion yen this financial year—equivalent to $4.4 billion and almost half last year’s profit. Reporting results Tuesday, Honda forecast a roughly two-thirds slide in operating profit for the year through March 2026,

Major Japanese trading houses, backed by Warren Buffett, this week released cautious profit forecasts for the year, setting aside millions to hedge against persistent tariff uncertainty.

Japan's second-largest banking group Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group posted a 75% slump in fourth-quarter net profit but still hit a record 1.18 trillion yen profit for the year on strong demand for loans among Japanese corporations.

The head of the global trade watchdog says global free trade is facing a “crisis” as U.S. President Donald Trump disrupts world commerce with his fast-changing tariffs and other policies.