In my Tuesday contribution, I argued that the turning point for the USD/JPY may have finally arrived, following the June U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) on the Juy 11 and the apparent foreign exchange intervention.
It seems that (at least in the short term) markets reached this conclusion sooner than expected.
In an interview with Business Week published on the July 16, Donald J. Trump declared that “We have currency problems,” and pointed out the weakness of the yen and the Chinese yuan.
Specifically, he criticized Komatsu for having an advantage over Caterpillar due to the weak yen, indicating that currency is a significant concern for Trump, who prioritizes manufacturing.
Additionally, in an interview with Bloomberg on the July 17, Taro Kono, Japan’s Minister for Digital Transformation, said, “the yen is too cheap and we need to bring it back,” calling for the BOJ to raise interest rates.
He also claimed that he and Trump are looking at it “probably the same way” (Kono graduated from Georgetown University in the U.S. and is proficient in English).
