Japan has won little sympathy from its Group of 20 counterparts for the pain being caused by its strengthening yen, signaling opposition to shielding its fragile economy via intervention.
During a G-20 meeting in Washington on Thursday and Friday, Finance Minister Taro Aso said he re-confirmed with his counterparts, including U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, that disorderly currency movements aren't desirable. But within 24 hours, Lew had bluntly said Japan needs to focus on domestic demand and called foreign-exchange market moves "orderly" — a clear warning that the U.S. doesn't view yen intervention as warranted.
"There's a broad consensus that we should avert as a global financial system any kind of competitive devaluation cycle," said Mexican Finance Minister Luis Videgaray. "So I don't think that it is likely that would be a possibility in Japan or any other place," he told Bloomberg in Washington.