June 30 (Reuters) - 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.

"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.

($1 = 144.4800 yen)