US President Trump said that it was “a sign of friendship” that the US and Japan joined forces to defend the yen for the first time in decades. “The Trump administration supports America's trusted partners,” Treasury Secretary Bezent said. Most observers are skeptical, believing that things are not that simple. “We understand Mr. Trump's style of acting — there are no free lunches in the world,” said Jonathan Fortuna, a senior economist at the International Finance Association in Washington. Fortuna and other analysts pointed out that in helping Japan pull back the exchange rate of the yen against the dollar from a low of nearly 40 years, the US involved a series of interest considerations. Similar to last year's approach to Argentina, part of the reason may be that Trump is helping a leader who is also a conservative, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, whose public approval ratings have recently declined.

US President Trump said that it was “a sign of friendship” that the US and Japan joined forces to defend the yen for the first time in decades. “The Trump administration supports America's trusted partners,” Treasury Secretary Bezent said. Most observers are skeptical, believing that things are not that simple. “We understand Mr. Trump's style of acting — there are no free lunches in the world,” said Jonathan Fortuna, a senior economist at the International Finance Association in Washington. Fortuna and other analysts pointed out that in helping Japan pull back the exchange rate of the yen against the dollar from a low of nearly 40 years, the US involved a series of interest considerations. Similar to last year's approach to Argentina, part of the reason may be that Trump is helping a leader who is also a conservative, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, whose public approval ratings have recently declined.