Japan’s Finance Minister Shunichi Kato said on Friday that Japan’s huge US Treasury holdings are among tools available for Tokyo in trade negotiations with the United States, per Reuters.
Kato further stated that he did not discuss with US about the foreign exchange (FX) target and framework to control FX moves.
Did not discuss with US FX target, framework to control FX moves.
Discussed with US need for constructive discussion on FX.
No discussion whatsoever with US on where FX levels should be.
Confirmed with US during earlier meeting with Bessent FX moves should be set by markets, excessive FX volatility undesirable.
Japan is not manipulating Yen, must explain this thoroughly to US.
Japan’s huge US Treasury holdings among tools it can wield in trade negotiations with the US, then adds whether Japan wields that card is a different question.
Noted that while Japan’s main reason for holding such large reserves is to maintain sufficient liquidity for possible Japanese Yen intervention “We obviously need to put all cards on the table in negotiations. It could be among such cards.”
Whether we actually use that card, however, is a different question.
At the time of writing, the USD/JPY pair is trading 0.07% lower on the day to trade at 145.30.
