New Delhi, Nov. 17 -- First quarterly contraction in 18 months exposes vulnerability of world's fourth-largest economy as Washington's 15% baseline tariff devastates export-dependent industries and threatens recession

Japan's economy stumbled into contraction during the third quarter of 2025, shrinking at an annualized rate of 1.8 percent as President Donald Trump's aggressive tariff regime hammered the export-dependent nation's industrial backbone and forced Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to prepare an unprecedented $110 billion stimulus package to prevent a full-scale recession.

The Cabinet Office reported that gross domestic product contracted 0.4 percent on a quarterly basis between July and September, marking the first economic decl...