June 21 2024 US Treasury Adds Japan to Currency Watchlist: What It Means

Yesterday, In its latest semiannual foreign-exchange report, the US Treasury Department has added Japan to its "monitoring list" for foreign-exchange practices. This decision comes amid concerns over Japan's large trade and current account surpluses and its recent interventions to support the yen. However, the Treasury stopped short of labeling Japan, or any other trade partner, as a currency manipulator.

The last time the US designated a country as a currency manipulator was in 2019, under President Donald Trump, when China was given the label. That tag was dropped five months later to secure concessions in a trade deal.