85% of Japanese Say They Are Economically Anxious About Trump’s Tariff Measures

Results of a Telephone Survey of 1,240 People
Only 14% Said They Felt Little or No Anxiety

Eight out of ten Japanese people are reportedly concerned about the negative economic impact of tariff measures imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Asahi Shimbun reported on April 22 that, according to a telephone survey conducted on April 19 and 20 with 1,240 respondents (based on valid responses), 85% of those surveyed said they felt either significant or moderate anxiety about the situation.

Shigeru Ishiba, Prime Minister of Japan. Photo by Reuters Yonhap News

Only 14% of respondents said they felt little or no anxiety. When asked about their expectations for the Shigeru Ishiba administration's negotiations with the United States, only 28% said they were optimistic, while a much higher 70% said they had no expectations.

In a separate poll conducted by the Sankei Shimbun and the private broadcaster Fuji News Network (FNN) on April 19 and 20 with 1,015 respondents, 79.5% said they were concerned about the impact of U.S. tariff measures. In this survey, 19.6% said they were not worried.

According to a telephone survey conducted by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Nikkei) and TV Tokyo between April 19 and 21 with 799 respondents, only 22% believed that the Ishiba administration would achieve results in negotiations with the United States, while 70% said they did not think so.

Meanwhile, although support for the Ishiba cabinet rose in some surveys, it remained low overall. In the Nikkei survey, the approval rating for the Ishiba cabinet was 33%, down 2 percentage points from the previous month, while the Asahi Shimbun survey showed a 30% approval rating, up 4 percentage points from the previous month.