U.S. Urges Japan to Address Bond Market Volatility

Washington, Jan. 20 (Jiji Press)–U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday urged Japan to address bond market volatility, expressing concerns about a possible spillover to the United States from spikes in Japanese government bond yields. “It’s very difficult to disaggregate the market reaction from what’s going on endogenously in Japan,” Bessent said, regarding the recent rises in long-term interest rates in the two countries. He was attending an event of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has announced a plan to suspend the consumption tax on food items for two years. This fueled concerns about fiscal deterioration further and triggered fresh JGB selling, sending the benchmark 10-year JGB yield to 27-year highs. Bessent said he is communicating with his economic counterparts in Japan, expressing confidence that Japanese authorities “will begin saying the things that will calm the market down.” Regarding the worsening relations between Japan and China following Takaichi’s parliamentary remarks on a possible Taiwan contingency, Bessent said that the United States is immune from the matter. Some market watchers say that the recent rises in U.S. government bond yields stem from concerns about deteriorating relations between the United States and European nations over President Donald Trump’s calls to take over the Danish territory of Greenland. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]