Toyota Officially Announces JDM Reverse Imports

Toyota is preparing to send some of its most familiar American-built vehicles back across the Pacific. The company confirmed this week that it plans to begin importing three U.S.-built models into Japan starting next year.

The models in question are the Camry sedan, the Highlander crossover, and the Tundra pickup, all currently produced in the United States. Toyota says the decision is a way to better serve Japanese customers while also easing trade tensions with Washington. The timing is hard to ignore. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Japan over its trade surplus and what he views as structural barriers to selling American-built vehicles in the country.

For Toyota, the plan is partly a return to familiar ground. The Camry and Highlander were previously sold in Japan, though both were pulled from the market as local tastes shifted toward smaller vehicles and minivans. The Tundra, by contrast, would be an entirely new proposition for Japan. Toyota appears to be betting that growing interest in outdoor recreation and lifestyle vehicles could create a niche for a full-size pickup, even in a market where trucks of that scale remain uncommon.

The move is also tied to regulatory changes now taking shape. Toyota said it intends to take advantage of a new framework being considered by Japan’s transport ministry that would allow U.S.-built vehicles certified to American safety standards to be sold domestically without additional testing. That concept was outlined in a White House fact sheet following an October summit between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, and it represents a rare easing of Japan’s typically strict homologation requirements.

Toyota is not alone in exploring this path. Sources indicate that Honda and Nissan are also studying the feasibility of shipping U.S.-built vehicles back to Japan, suggesting the issue has become an industry-wide response to political pressure rather than a one-off experiment.

The backdrop to all of this is a tariff regime that has become increasingly costly for Japanese automakers. Trump raised duties on imported Japanese vehicles to 27.5 percent earlier this year, later negotiating the rate down to 15 percent. Even at the reduced level, the tariffs have weighed on earnings and forced companies like Toyota to rethink how and where they sell their products.

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