Japan's inconvenient (yen) truth threatens Abe-Trump honeymoon

Tokyo

AN inconvenient (and uncomfortable) truth is dawning upon Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe's administration which is that, after four years of Abenomics policies, the world's third-largest economy is still as dependent now upon exports as it has been for decades.

The reason it is so inconvenient is that despite chummy relations Mr Abe claims to have struck up with US President Donald Trump during their recent golfing summit, a US-Japan economic dialogue due to kick off soon is likely to probe more deeply the source of Japan's export success.

This in turn could show that the yen is indeed undervalued as Mr Trump hinted when he blasted Japan earlier for currency "manipulation" - and the investig…