Japan vulnerable to Trump tariffs due to limited policy arsenal: BNP Paribas

Credit ratings of both East Asian nation and France at risk, says chief economist

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BNP Paribas Group Chief Economist Isabelle Mateos y Lago says Japan has "very little room to maneuver with fiscal or monetary policy to support growth." (Photo by Yuki Kohara) 

LISA KIM and JADA NAGUMO

TOKYO -- Japanese authorities have only a limited fiscal and monetary arsenal to draw on as they fight to support Asia's No. 2 economy in the face of a barrage of U.S. trade tariffs, according to BNP Paribas.

"There's very little room to maneuver with fiscal or monetary policy to support growth," Isabelle Mateos y Lago, group chief economist at the French bank, told Nikkei Asia in an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday. "Unfortunately, Japan has to go through this very uncertain period without much help from policy."

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