AFP, Tokyo :
Japan on Wednesday denied Donald Trump’s accusation Tokyo “played the money market” to give it an unfair trade advantage, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying the claims of currency devaluation were untrue.
The remarks, which also targeted China, are the latest by the tycoon against the United States’ global partners and come just before a meeting with Abe in which trade is expected to top the agenda.
In a speech to business executives at the White House Trump, he said: “You look at what China is doing and what Japan has done over the years, and they played the money market and the devaluation market and we sit there like a bunch of dummies.”
The comments sent the dollar plunging towards 112 yen briefly Tuesday, with traders taking them as further evidence Trump will press ahead with a protectionist agenda many fear could spark a global trade war.
Questioned in parliament about the outburst, Abe, with a diplomatic eye on next week’s meeting, said: “We have tasked the Bank of Japan under Governor (Haruhiko) Kuroda with an appropriate monetary policy to achieve the two percent price-stability goal.
Japan on Wednesday denied Donald Trump’s accusation Tokyo “played the money market” to give it an unfair trade advantage, with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe saying the claims of currency devaluation were untrue.
The remarks, which also targeted China, are the latest by the tycoon against the United States’ global partners and come just before a meeting with Abe in which trade is expected to top the agenda.
In a speech to business executives at the White House Trump, he said: “You look at what China is doing and what Japan has done over the years, and they played the money market and the devaluation market and we sit there like a bunch of dummies.”
The comments sent the dollar plunging towards 112 yen briefly Tuesday, with traders taking them as further evidence Trump will press ahead with a protectionist agenda many fear could spark a global trade war.
Questioned in parliament about the outburst, Abe, with a diplomatic eye on next week’s meeting, said: “We have tasked the Bank of Japan under Governor (Haruhiko) Kuroda with an appropriate monetary policy to achieve the two percent price-stability goal.
