Japan’s economy contracts less than expected, but US tariffs loom large over BOJ policy
The updated figures showed that the world’s fourth-largest economy had contracted even before US President Donald Trump’s tariff measures

Gross domestic product shrank at an annualised pace of 0.2 per cent in the three months through March, the Cabinet Office said on Monday, compared with a 0.7 per cent retreat in preliminary data. Economists had expected that initial figure to stand.
Personal consumption rose 0.1 per cent, while business spending gained 1.1 per cent. Inventories contributed 0.6 percentage points to growth, while net exports posted a drag of 0.8 percentage points.

BOJ officials were very cautious about the impact of tariffs, which Governor Kazuo Ueda described as having “extremely high” uncertainties. He warned last week that tariffs could affect Japan’s economy through multiple channels, pledging to evaluate economic and price developments through a broad array of indicators.