Japanese Finance Minister Kato Katsunobu has met US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in the United States. Kato is believed to have refuted President Donald Trump’s claim that Japan has pursued a weak yen.
The meeting on Thursday came after Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors met in Washington earlier in the day.
Exactly what Bessent said about exchange rates in his meeting with Kato has not been disclosed. But the Japanese minister is believed to have explained that Tokyo has not guided the yen lower.
Bessent is in charge of negotiations with Japan over the Trump administration’s tariff measures. He said on Wednesday that the US does not have specific currency targets in mind in the tariff negotiations with Japan.
Trump has repeatedly criticized Japan’s foreign exchange policy. He said on Wednesday that it is “unfair” that China’s currency, the yuan, is so low and that Japan “would always fight” to keep the yen low.
The Japanese currency fluctuated against the dollar on foreign exchange markets ahead of the Kato-Bessent meeting. Traders were wary that the US might use the occasion to ask Japan to tackle the yen’s weakness against the dollar.
The question is whether Japan and the US will be able to reach an understanding on currency matters.
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