Donald Trump expressed concern over the weakness of the yen when he met Japan’s prime minister this week, the country’s finance minister said on Friday as the currency came under more pressure against the dollar. Trump and Sanae Takaichi discussed the yen in talks in New York on Tuesday, Satsuki Katayama told reporters in Tokyo. The US president “expressed his concern” while Takaichi told Trump that she saw an undervalued yen as “problematic”, Katayama said.

Trump’s focus on eliminating trade deficits between the US and the rest of the world has fuelled his criticism of countries he sees as gaining an unfair advantage over American manufacturers thanks to their weaker currencies. US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has also warned that disorderly movements in the yen could negatively affect the US bond market. Katayama, who has been battling to push the yen higher, has warned markets that Japanese authorities could intervene again to support the currency with US backing.

US authorities including Bessent supported a $96bn intervention by Tokyo in currency markets in July and August, a rare joint action that helped the Japanese currency rebound from 40-year lows. “In light of [the Trump-Takaichi] meeting, Treasury secretary Bessent and I will continue to communicate closely on a range of matters, including foreign exchange,” Katayama said. The yen has weakened about 1 per cent against the dollar this week, but strengthened slightly on Friday to trade at ¥158.33. But Takaichi remains committed to a programme of higher government spending, which analysts see as putting downward pressure on the yen.

Yields on Japan’s benchmark 10-year government bond rose on Friday to a fresh 30-year high of 3.1 per cent. Yields move inversely to prices. The dollar has been strengthening generally due to rising yields in the US, underpinned by strong economic data that has triggered bets on faster rate rises by the Federal Reserve.

The yen’s slide has pushed inflation higher in Japan, causing deepening pain for Japanese households. The joint intervention this summer, when the yen was trading at about ¥163 per dollar, succeeded in buoying the Japanese currency temporarily to about ¥155. But the Japanese currency soon resumed its fall, even as the Bank of Japan began hinting that it would accelerate its pace of interest rate increases.

Last week, the BoJ raised rates to the highest level in 31 years, but the move did little to structurally strengthen the yen, even as the central bank’s governor Kazuo Ueda hinted strongly that there could be further tightening to come this year.