Japan's trade surplus shrinks 31% in June as exports to U.S. plunge

Japan's trade surplus in June shrank 30.8 percent from a year earlier to 153.1 billion yen ($1 billion) as automobile and other exports to the United States plunged amid higher tariffs, government data showed Thursday.Overall exports fell 0.5 percent to 9.16 trillion yen, weighed down by a 11.4 percent drop in U.S.-bound shipments to 1.71 trillion yen, marking the third straight month of decline since Washington imposed a 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles in April.Imports edged up 0.2 percent to 9.01 trillion yen, lifted by pharmaceutical products from Ireland and mobile phones from Ch…READ FULL ARTICLE