Imports of US aircraft helped push Japan to a trade deficit in May, official data showed today, but experts said it was a temporary effect not linked to ongoing trade tensions.
Japan's imports rose 14% in May from a year earlier, according to finance ministry data.
Exports also enjoyed an 8% rise but the overall effect was a net deficit of 578.3 billion yen ($5 billion).
The deficit was nearly three times the size of the figure last year and came after two consecutive months of surplus.
Analysts said that the deficit came from a surge in imports from the US, noting a quadrupling of Japan's purchases of US aircraft.
They also said that crude oil prices rose strongly, pushing Japan's import bills higher, but added that the rise was only temporary and was not linked to trade policies.
They ruled out the possibility that Japan was boosting purchases of US products as Washington adopts an increasingly protectionist trade policy.
Overall Japanese imports from the US rose nearly 20% year-on-year, meaning its politically sensitive trade surplus with Washington fell 17.3%.
Meanwhile, Japan's deficit with its biggest trading partner China shrank 10.4% with exports growing 13.9%.
Worries about a trade war are growing as Washington and Beijing exchange tit-for-tat tariff announcements.
Marking a departure from a decades-long, US-led drive for open and free trade, President Donald Trump has claimed that massive flows of imports to the USs threaten national security.
