I don't think that there's a question that President Donald Trump, in addition to being president, has to be one of the funniest people ever to hold the office.
He showed that again Sunday evening on Air Force One, with a quick response that had people laughing after he was asked why the U.S. was intervening to help support the Japanese yen.
.@POTUS: "They have a weakening yen and they wanted a little bit of help, and we're always there for Japan. Japan has been very good to us — with the exception, of course, of Pearl Harbor." https://t.co/EN84T792Gg pic.twitter.com/cemjRHijdg
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 2, 2026
"They have a weakening yen and they wanted a little bit of help, and we're always there for Japan," Trump said.
"Japan has been very good to us — with the exception, of course, of Pearl Harbor," dropping one heck of a one-liner.
He made a similar comment once before in March when he was with the Prime Minister of Japan at the White House. Sanae Takaichi took it in stride. Japan and the U.S. are great friends, and the prime minister and Trump are also close.
BREAKING: "We didn't tell anybody about [Iran] because we wanted surprise. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor?" - President Trump pic.twitter.com/qSiiNhTqoM
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 19, 2026
Japanese PM's Reaction to Biden's Picture at WH Is Epic - So Is the Agreement She Made With Trump
Trump further explained the move to help Japan would be financially beneficial for America as well, similar in that respect to the deal they made with Argentina.
What the Trump administration did was sell euros and buy yen. They did not give them money. Such a move is also in our own interests.
When the Japanese yen recently hit its weakest level against the U.S. dollar in about 40 years, it wasn’t just a problem for the government in Tokyo. It was also a problem for the United States.
The U.S. Treasury Department last week took a rare step to help prop up the yen, reinforcing the Japanese currency’s global significance and the trouble it can cause across borders. The United States and Japan share deep economic and financial ties. Japan’s large holdings of U.S. Treasuries, stocks and other assets — nearly $3 trillion in all — mean that turmoil in Japan can ripple through U.S. markets and beyond.
This stops Japan from having to sell off more U.S. Treasuries, so that we aren't adversely impacted. So it's helping prevent more volatility that could hurt us as well. It's actually a smart move for us.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, "Economic security is national security. And the U.S.-Japan alliance is built on both." He also said they "strongly support Japan's decisive market and monetary steps to correct the substantial undervaluation of the yen."
Here's a reminder of one great moment in that friendship from March.
When she saw the autopen 🤣 https://t.co/EULKkxlaR8 pic.twitter.com/etL6ll9BGu
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) March 20, 2026
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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