US doing ‘whatever it takes to support’ Japan as Yen plummets, says Bessent

The Trump administration will do “whatever it takes” to support Japan’s effort to stabilize its currency, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday. “We will do whatever it takes to support them in a way that helps the American economy, the American taxpayer,” Bessent said in an interview on CNBC two days after confirming the Treasury had joined Japan’s finance authorities in an intervention last week to prop up the yen.Bessent said the yen’s substantial undervaluation could trigger other economic problems or competitive devaluations of other currencies “which is unhealthy.”Japan confirmed on Monday it had carried out yen-buying intervention on Friday with the U.S. Treasury department. But rather than buying yen and selling dollars, two market sources told Reuters the Treasury had instead bought yen for euros, confirming an earlier Financial Times report.Japan’s Ministry of Finance also intervened in markets on Thursday and in addition to Friday’s action, there were further sharp moves on Monday that were potentially intervention-driven. Story continues below advertisement The yen, trading at around 157 per dollar, has recovered from 40-year lows near 164. It strengthened al...