The US and Japanese governments coordinated to stabilize the yen after the currency plummeted last week, a historic intervention aimed at preventing wider economic destabilization.
The yen is “very undervalued,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Friday — Japan’s currency has weakened for months, a phenomenon economists attributed to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s expansionary fiscal policy, including her push to boost defense spending.
The moves suggest the White House was concerned a yen selloff could further push up US bond yields, which remain elevated, analysts said.
The intervention mirrors Washington’s actions on behalf of Argentina’s flailing peso last fall, timed to support President Javier Milei’s coalition — a “calculated wager” that Buenos Aires would “continue advancing economic liberalization,” the Reason Foundation argued.