In the last few weeks, the Japanese Yen has appreciated 4% against the USD, prompting officials from Japan’s Ministry of Finance to declare that they will be monitoring the Yen closely for unnatural fluctuations. The announcement was widely interpreted as a hint that the Ministry would intervene in forex markets and prevent the Yen from appreciating further. American industry lobbyists, in turn, responded with a show of outrage, urging US trade officials to prevent Japan from tampering with the value of the Yen. The Jiji Press reports:

Noting that Japan for years has massively intervened in currency markets to keep the value of the yen “artificially low,” he said, “Japan’s currency manipulation is a serious and damaging unfair trade practice that is causing permanent harm to the industrial core of the U.S. economy.”

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