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U.S. president Donald Trump on Tuesday told a meeting of pharmaceutical companies that Japan, along with China and Germany, were guilty of “global freeloading” for using regulation and currency devaluation in their trade dealings with the US.
Japanese policymakers refuted Trump's accusation of currency manipulation on Wednesday, stressing that Tokyo was abiding by a Group of 20 agreement to refrain from competitive currency devaluation.
Bank of Japan (BoJ) Governor Kuroda at a scheduled speech in the Japanese parliament said that G20 countries share understanding that monetary policy is conducted for domestic reasons.
Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, said Trump’s criticism “completely misses the mark”. Suga added that the Bank of Japan’s pursuit of monetary easing was intended to boost inflation, not weaken the yen against the dollar.
Japan PM Abe said that criticism that BOJ is trying to weaken yen is not right. Finance Minister Taro Aso was out on wires, via Reuters, saying that currency restrictions should not be part of future trade negotiations.
Koichi Hamada, adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Abe said that Trump’s policies on border-tax and currencies are contradictory. He noted that if Trump implements border tax, dollar would appreciate. Trump's one-sided arguments on border tax, currencies are destructive to Japan, world economy, Hamada added.
Dollar suffered sharp losses, slid to a two-month low of 112.08 yen on Tuesday in the wake of Trump's remarks. Chief cabinet secretary Suga said that the BoJ was watching FX moves closely with a sense of urgency and added that Trump's remarks will not bind BOJ's hands on policy. If yen spikes well above 100 to dollar that could make BOJ worried, but current dollar/yen won't pose serious problem for Japan's economy.
