Mr. Suzuki said he did not know whether Japan was deliberately weakening the yen, as Mr. Trump claims, but he agrees with the American president
that a stronger Japanese currency is better for American car sales.
“Of course American cars don’t sell in Japan,” said Mr. Masui, whose admiration for
American vehicles does not extend to their manufacturers’ marketing strategies.
Even as Japanese cars have taken a wide portion of the United States market, American brands are barely visible in Japan, a situation
that has long frustrated American auto executives and trade negotiators and has become a renewed source of political friction under President Trump.
“German cars are popular in Japan, but American cars hardly sell at all,” Akio Mimura, chairman
of the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said at a news conference this month.
Mr. Suzuki said he would like to expand his offerings to smaller, more budget-friendly American vehicles — the kind
that are the staple of Japan’s own auto industry, and which most Japanese drive.
“If they’re going to sell cars in Japan, it’s obvious that they need to make an effort to appeal to Japanese customers.”
Yet, even European carmakers complain that the Japanese market can be tough going, with taxes, safety standards
and other rules that they think favor domestic producers.
“They do things to us that make it impossible to sell cars in Japan,” he said in a meeting with American executives last month.
