President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that the United States has intervened in foreign exchange markets to bolster the Japanese yen, describing the action as a "signal of friendship" intended to benefit both the US and the global economy.
The admission follows reports that the US Treasury Department executed the trade, marking the first time Washington has directly stepped in to support the currency since 2011.
The intervention represents a significant escalation in efforts to stabilize the yen, which has faced persistent pressure amid diverging monetary policy paths between the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan.
By publicly acknowledging the move, the administration signals a willingness to use direct market operations to manage currency volatility, a departure from the more passive stance maintained in previous decades.
Market participants are now assessing the scale and duration of the operation.
While the immediate impact on the USD/JPY pair may be muted by the timing of the announcement, the precedent set by Washington's involvement could alter risk premiums across Asian currencies.