U.S. and Japan Intervene to Prop Up Yen

President Donald Trump said Sunday that the United States had joined Japan in buying yen to halt the currency’s persistent slide, marking the allies’ first coordinated monetary intervention since 2011.

Trump called the purchase a “signal of friendship” that would benefit both the United States and the global economy. “We’re always there for Japan,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that Japan had also been good to the United States “with the exception, of course, of Pearl Harbor.”

Japan’s Finance Ministry said it purchased yen Friday in coordination with the U.S. Treasury to counter “excessive volatility and disorderly movements.” Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also clarified that both countries are prepared to intervene again if necessary.

The move appeared to have strengthened the yen, which had hit a 40-year low last month. Japan’s currency surged by more than 1 percent against the dollar Monday. 

Among the factors hurting the yen have been pressure from high interest rates in the U.S., rising energy costs due to the ongoing Iran War, and concerns about the sustainability of Japan’s fiscal policy.