U.S. Treasury Chief to Meet with Japan PM Takaichi Tues.

Washington, May 10 (Jiji Press)–U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on X, formerly Twitter, Sunday that he will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama on Tuesday during a trip to the East Asian nation. Bessent is set to leave for Japan on Monday. The U.S. and Japanese officials are expected to discuss currency market developments after Japanese authorities recently intervened in the market to buy yen for dollars. Bessent will travel to Japan and South Korea before U.S. President Donald Trump visits China from Thursday to meet with President Xi Jinping that day. After the South Korean trip from Wednesday, Bessent will move to China and join the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing. In the social media post, Bessent said that in Tokyo, he will also meet with “other (Japanese) government and private-sector representatives for discussions on the U.S.-Japan economic relationship.” Regarding the foreign exchange market, the U.S. and Japanese sides are expected to reconfirm a joint statement issued last September by Bessent and then Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato. The document said that currency market interventions “should be reserved for combating excess volatility and disorderly movements.” The U.S. Treasury chief and the Japanese side are also likely to exchange views on economic security and the situation in the Middle East in the wake of China’s tightened export controls on rare earths and the de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a key oil transport waterway. Bessent, who took office in January last year, visited Japan in July and October. During the October visit, he joined a Takaichi-Trump summit and met with Katayama. In Seoul, Bessent is slated to meet with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, according to his X post. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]