Japan racks up trade deficit as imports jump

TOKYO — Japan's trade deficit in April grew nearly 8 percent from a year earlier as the weak yen boosted the value of imports, offsetting gains from a jump in exports, government data showed on Wednesday.

Exports totaled 8.98 trillion yen ($57 billion), while imports totaled 9.4 trillion yen ($60 billion), both up 8 percent from the previous year, the Ministry of Finance said. The trade deficit for the month came out to 462.5 billion yen ($3 billion).