Headline Roundup • August 3rd, 2026
US and Japan Make Coordinated Yen Purchases to Bolster Currency
Summary from the AllSides News Team
The US and Japan said on Sunday that they made coordinated purchases of the Japanese yen on July 31 after the currency weakened to a 40-year low.
For Context: The US and Japan previously intervened to weaken the yen in 2011 after the devastating Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
Key Quotes: Japan's Finance Ministry said it worked with the US Treasury to address "excessive volatility and disorderly movements of the yen" and that the two "will not hesitate to conduct further joint intervention." President Trump told reporters that the US has a "very good relationship" with Japan and that the US is "always there for Japan." Trump said the US will receive "financial benefit" from the intervention and that it's "also good for the world economy." He added, "More than anything else, it was a signal of friendship."
Reported Transactions: Bloomberg (Lean Left bias) reported that Japan bought yen and sold dollars during the action. Reuters (Center) reported that Japan may have sold as much as $59 billion in securities to finance the transaction. Financial Times (Center) reported that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York "undertook the unusual move" of selling euros to buy yen on the US Treasury's behalf. The reports were based on unnamed sources.
Expert Opinions: CNBC (Lean Left) reported opinions from several "industry veterans." Louise Loo, head of Asia economics at Oxford Economics, said, "There is a self-preservation element here. Volatile markets driven by potentially fiscally-aggressive policies from Japan could extend to the US Treasury markets, destabilizing the dollar." Robin Brooks, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the US approach is "confusing markets and will prove counterproductive." She added, "US participation raises more questions than answers, especially the very odd news that the US sold Euros to buy yen… This kind of twist in my opinion undercuts the efficacy of US participation, because it invariably will have markets wondering why the US didn't just fund yen buying out of dollars."
Media Opinions: Hudson Lockett of Reuters said, "The goal of the latest yen intervention is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." He added that "underlying drivers of weakness remain, raising the question of what the push hopes to achieve in the longer term." ZeroHedge (Lean Right) wrote, "America is escaping secular stagnation by running the economy hot through supply-side economics, deregulation, and productive investment… Japan, meanwhile, may finally be restructuring both its economy and its geopolitical role. That is why this is not an inflation story. It is the beginning of a new regime."
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Featured Coverage of this Story
Washington's decision to join Japan in supporting the battered yen has prompted questions over what motivated the rare coordinated intervention, with analysts pointing to concerns over U.S. Treasury markets and Japan's financial system.
Tokyo has grown increasingly wary of the yen's decline, which recently dropped to its weakest level against the dollar in nearly four decades. The yen
had been hovering at multi-decade lows, sliding to 163.73 per dollar last Thursday before rebounding to 157.57 Friday.
Japan and the United States announced on Aug. 2 that they coordinated purchases of the yen on July 31 to curb the currency's volatility on the currency market.
In a statement, Japan's Finance Ministry said it coordinated with the U.S. Treasury Department to address "excessive volatility and disorderly movements of the yen" in recent months.
Bloomberg via Getty Images
Japan and the US have confirmed that they jointly intervened last week to halt a slide in the yen after it weakened to a fresh 40-year low.
The joint intervention is the first since 2011, when both countries took coordinated action to weaken the yen after the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit eastern Japan.
Both Japan's Ministry of Finance and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have said that they will not hesitate to conduct more joint interventions in the future.
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