Japan’s carmakers are trying to tinker their way out of tariff pain

Ever since Toyota entered America in the 1950s, the country has been a vital market for it. The carmaker, which sells more vehicles worldwide than any other, hawks around a quarter of its cars there. That makes President Donald Trump’s 15% tariff on Japanese vehicles a big problem, considering that only around half of the cars Toyota sells in America are made in the country (see chart). In an earnings call on August 7th, Japan’s most valuable company said that American duties cost it ¥450bn ($3bn) in the three months to June. For its full fiscal year it expects the impact to be close to $10bn, the biggest hit reported so far by any carmaker.