MAClines Group of Companies

On the eve of the start of a summit of the G20 nations in Japan, a Japanese trade ministry report released Friday shows how the country is facing a trade deficit with China and other emerging economies.

The ministry said in the report that the country’s trade deficit was at $1.4 trillion last year and that Japan is set to spend about $2 trillion over the next five years to close the gap with China.

The government report also showed that imports from China in the current year totaled $3.7 trillion, up 10 percent from the previous year.

That was a significant increase, the ministry said.

In the first quarter of this year, imports from the two countries totaled $1,848 billion, up 8 percent from last year.

That was up 7.5 percent from a year earlier.

The gap was $2.2 trillion last quarter, but the gap has narrowed in the last year, the report said.

China imports more than $10 trillion worth of goods from Japan each year.

The country is set for a second round of meetings in March in the countrys capital, Tokyo.