« We don’t understand what he’s talking about, » Vice Finance Minister Masatsugu Asakawa said Wednesday.
Japan is a key U. S. ally in Asia, but Trump has used it as a verbal punching bag on the campaign trail and as president.
His targets have included the country’s auto industry — with top carmaker Toyota ( TM ) singled out — and its currency.
Related: Trump’s Toyota attack sets off alarm bells in Japan
« Look at what China is doing. You look at what Japan has done over the years, » Trump said Tuesday. « They play the money market, they play the devaluation market and we sit there like a bunch of dummies. »
Japanese officials were lining up on Wednesday to dispute that view.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that Trump’s criticism was « totally incorrect, » stressing that Japan’s foreign exchange policy sticks to agreements made by major economies at G7 and G20 meetings.
Related: Trump got it wrong. China is spending big to prop up its currency
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament that suggestions that Japan was devaluing the yen were off the mark.
Asakawa, the country’s top financial diplomat, said Japanese monetary policy is aimed at pulling the country out of the cycle of falling prices that has plagued it for decades.
