Japanese officials moved swiftly to deny a media report suggesting that US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had conveyed a preference for a weaker Dollar and stronger Yen during recent bilateral meetings in Washington last week.
Japan’s top currency diplomat, Atsushi Mimura, emphasized to reporters that “the US side did not touch upon exchange-rate targets” in discussions between Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato and his US counterpart.
Finance Minister Kato also reiterated via social media that exchange-rate frameworks were not discussed, directly refuting the report published by the Yomiuri newspaper.
Meanwhile, Bessent himself described the talks with Japan as “very constructive” in a post on X, noting that they covered reciprocal trade issues and “matters pertaining to exchange rates” without mentioning any explicit preferences.
