The Bank of Japan is becoming increasingly wary of tweets by U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of its first policy meeting since he took office, fearing his remarks could thwart its long-shot efforts to achieve 2 percent inflation and end decades of deflation.
Fears are growing among officials at the central bank that Trump might start to criticize it for manipulating foreign-exchange rates, given that its radical monetary easing measures are apparently aimed at devaluing the yen against the dollar.
Faced with Trump's "America First" policy, which could see him pursue a weaker dollar to bolster U.S. exports, the BOJ could be forced to end years of aggressive monetary easing and begin tapering the easing policy later this year, some economists say.