Considering Increasing U.S. Production or Raising Product Prices
As U.S. President Donald Trump launched a major tariff offensive, major Japanese companies have begun to prepare full-scale countermeasures. Nissan Motor is pushing to expand production in the United States to avoid tariffs, while Nintendo is even leaving open the possibility of price increases.
On the 6th, Yonhap News reported this citing Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei). According to the report, Nissan Motor, which has been producing vehicles for export to the U.S. at its factory in Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan, is considering producing these vehicles in the U.S. instead. There are also expectations that this could be implemented as early as this summer.
Nissan sold about 920,000 vehicles in the U.S. last year, of which 150,000 units (16%) were exported from Japan. The vehicle Nissan is planning to increase production of in the U.S. is the sport utility vehicle (SUV) Rogue. The Fukuoka factory has been producing about 120,000 Rogues annually.
Originally, due to poor performance, Nissan planned to reduce production in the U.S., but after President Trump announced an additional 25% tariff on imported cars, the company withdrew its production cut plans and is now considering increasing production.
Nikkei noted, "This is the first time that a move to shift production from Japan has appeared following the imposition of the additional 25% tariff on imported cars," and pointed out that if production at Japanese factories decreases, small and medium-sized parts suppliers could be affected. Nissan needs to produce 1 million units annually to maintain its supply chain in Japan, but production has already been reduced to about 660,000 units.
Among Japanese automakers, Toyota Motor, which exports the most Japanese-made vehicles to the U.S., is expected to maintain the current system for the time being while reviewing countermeasures, Nikkei reported.
Nintendo postponed the pre-order schedule in the United States for the new product Nintendo Switch 2, originally planned for the 9th, following the Trump administration's announcement of mutual tariff impositions. AP Yonhap News
The newspaper said, "There is a possibility that other automakers will also increase cases of shifting production from Japan to the U.S.," adding that "the shipment value of automobile products accounts for about 10% of Japan's gross domestic product (GDP)." It also predicted that since production shifts lead to GDP decline, establishing countermeasures against the hollowing out of Japanese industry will be a challenge.
Nintendo, which is releasing a new product for the first time in about eight years, has also begun changing its strategy. It has decided to postpone the U.S. pre-order sales of the next-generation console game machine, the ‘Nintendo Switch 2,’ originally scheduled for the 9th.
Nintendo has been producing the Switch in China and Vietnam, but due to the mutual tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on these two countries, a price increase is inevitable. The planned release date of June 5 remains unchanged, but some analysts predict that the price of the Nintendo Switch 2 will rise.
The previously set U.S. sales price was $449.99 (about 657,000 won), but as Nintendo delayed the start of pre-orders citing "tariff impacts and changes in the market environment," the possibility of a price increase is being discussed.
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