Japan engages in "unfair" automobile trade with the United States and should increase its imports of U.S. energy resources and other goods to help reduce the U.S. trade deficit, President Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

Tokyo is scrambling to find ways to get Washington to exempt Japan's automakers from 25% automobile industry-specific tariffs, which are hurting the country's manufacturing sector. Japan also faces a 24% so-called reciprocal tariff rate starting on July 9 unless it can negotiate a deal.

President Donald Trump shakes hands with Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba at the White House in Washington, U.S., February 7, 2025. REUTERS/Kent Nishimura

"They won't take our cars, and yet we take millions and millions of their cars into the United States. It's not fair, and I explained that to Japan, and they understand it," Trump said in an interview on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo".

"And we have a big deficit with Japan, and they understand that too. Now we have oil. They could take a lot of oil, they could take a lot of other things."

The automobile sector accounted for about 28% of the total 21 trillion yen ($145 billion) worth of goods Japan exported to the U.S. last year.