The United States bought the Japanese yen for the first time in more than a decade as “a signal of friendship,” President Donald Trump said Sunday.

Axar.az reports, citing CNN, the rare bilateral intervention in Japan’s currency market was designed to prop up the yen from its 40-year low against the dollar.

“They have a weakening yen, and they wanted a little bit of help. And we’re always there for Japan,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Trump’s comment confirmed the Friday joint action by the US and Japan to reverse the continuing weakening of the yen, whose depreciation has been exacerbated this year by increasing energy costs due to the Iran war.

The US has interests in shoring up the yen because a stronger dollar makes American exports pricier for foreign consumers. Similarly, while a weak yen benefits Japanese exporters – and foreign tourists who go to Japan – it also increases the cost of imports like oil and gas, fueling inflation.

Japan’s Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said in a Monday statement that the Friday action “countered excessive volatility and disorderly movements in the Japanese yen in recent months.”

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