Exporting Auto Parts to Japan
EXPORTING AUTO PARTS TO JAPAN Ambassador Richard Fisher reported that there are about 60 million motor vehicles manufactured each year; Japan makes 20 million of them (Fisher, 2000). Another way to say this is that Japan builds one-third of all motor vehicles manufactured in the world each year. This inherently means that Japan needs the most auto parts in the world. Fisher said that only 8 percent of all auto parts exported by the U. ... goes to Japan (Fisher, 2000). Japan guards its auto parts industry carefully providing protection for Japanese auto parts companies (Fisher, 2000). The auto parts industry in Japan is one of the nations largest industries with annual revenues in excess of $119 billion. Auto parts manufacturers in the U. ... hold a 37 percent share of the imports into Japan. Even so, total imports into the country represent only about 2 percent of the total value of domestic auto parts (The U. ... S 885 1,143 1,257 The Auto/Parts Framework Agreement signed on August 23, 1995 opened up the Japanese market for American auto and auto parts imports. Unfortunately, this occurred just prior to the economic slump in Japan, which deflated domestic and foreign auto parts sales in the country (U.