Finance: Monitoring List and Mnuchin

finance: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Trump have agreed that currency issues should be managed by the two countries' finance chiefs, according to The Japan Times. Aso said he reaffirmed this stance during his talks with Mnuchin. Finance Minister Taro Aso, after meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on the sidelines of a Group of 20 finance chiefs' gathering in Washington, said he did not take issue with Trump's comments. Aso and Mnuchin also discussed cooperation in imposing economic sanctions in the wake of North Korea's missile launches. Earlier in the month, the U.S. Treasury Department kept Japan, China and four other economies on its monitoring list for their currency practices. Trump has accused Japan of devaluing its currency to gain an advantage in trade, but Tokyo dismisses this, arguing the Bank of Japan's monetary easing was designed to achieve its 2 percent inflation target and not to devalue the yen. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.