The domestic car industry has come roaring back after the deep recession, but automakers and their supporters in Congress will be particularly wary about loosening the import tariffs on foreign trucks, a highly profitable line of vehicles for American automakers, said Richard Katz, chief editor of the Oriental Economist Report, a monthly newsletter that specializes in Japan and U.S.-Japan relations.
Abe's new economic policies, while welcomed in Japan, have generated concern elsewhere as they have driven the Japanese yen down in value. A cheaper yen should help boost Japanese exports of cars and some other goods.
Though Obama administration officials have been largely quiet on the currency issue, some American manufacturing groups and other critics said a devalued yen would hurt the American economy and cost it jobs.
"I'm flabbergasted.... Why give Japan a pass on the currency this time around?" said Clyde Prestowitz, a former trade negotiator in the Reagan administration.
