US and Japan Launch Coordinated Currency Intervention to Halt Yen's Slide

According to Al Jazeera on August 8, 2026 (17 Mordad 1405), the United States and Japan staged a coordinated currency intervention last week to halt the yen's slide, after the Japanese currency fell to 163 against the dollar, its lowest level in 40 years and the first time since 1986. The intervention began on July 31, with the US Treasury selling euros to buy yen while Japanese authorities also bought yen, lifting the currency to 157 to the dollar by Wednesday. Al Jazeera cited analysts who said the yen's weakness stems from decades of Japanese economic stagnation and the Bank of Japan's ultra low interest rate policy, compounded by new pressure from the US Israel war on Iran. The last joint US Japan intervention to defend the yen was in 2011, after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Analysts said Washington's main concern is the risk that Japan could sell large amounts of US Treasury securities, of which it held 1.114 trillion dollars as of May 2026, to raise funds to keep defending the yen.