A post is being widely shared on social media with a claim that Japanese citizens do not buy anything that’s made in the U.S. as they were bombed by the U.S. in 1945. It is also being claimed that, even after 75 years, the U.S. cannot even sell a needle in Japan. Let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: The U.S. is not allowed to sell any item in Japan as the attacked the country in 1945 by throwing a nuclear bomb.
Fact: Japan was the fourth largest export market for the U.S. in 2019. On the ‘Office of the United States Trade Representative’ website, it can be read that the U.S. goods exports to Japan in 2019 were US$ 74.7 billion. Hence the claim made is FALSE.
When searched for ‘US-Japan Trade’ on Google, a link to the ‘Office of U.S. Trade Representative’ website was found in the search results. According to information provided on the website, the quantum of trade between the countries was around US$ 303 billion in 2019. Imports from the U.S. were around US$ 123.4 billion worth of goods and services (Goods – US$ 74.7 billion and Services – US$ 48.7 billion) in the case of Japan in 2019. Some of the goods imported by Japan from the U.S. in 2019 were mineral fuels, aircraft, optical and medical instruments, machinery, and electrical machinery. Also, a similar claim was dunked by FACTLY in March 2019.
Similar US-Japan trade statistics were also found on the ‘Ministry of Finance – Japan’ website.
Also, it is found that ‘Amazon’ (an American multinational technology company) is one of the most popular e-commerce websites in Japan. Many US companies’ products can be found listed on the website.
To sum it up, Japan imports around US$ 74.7 billion worth of goods from the U.S. The Japanese citizens do buy goods from the U.S.
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