Japan Runs Biggest Trade Deficit in More Than 8 Years in May

Japan Runs Biggest Trade Deficit in More Than 8 Years in May
Shipping containers are seen at a port in Tokyo, on March 22, 2017. Issei Kato/Reuters
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TOKYO—Japan ran its biggest single-month trade deficit in more than eight years in May as high commodity prices and declines in the yen swelled imports, clouding the country’s economic outlook.

The growing trade deficit underscores the headwinds the world’s third-largest economy faces from a slide in the yen and surging costs of fuel and raw materials, on which domestic manufacturers rely for production.