US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made it clear: Japan’s massive portfolio of overseas assets isn’t a problem Washington wants solved. His remarks, delivered alongside coordinated currency interventions with Tokyo, paint a picture of two economic powers locking arms at a moment when the yen is under historic pressure.
Coordinated interventions and a 40-year low
The Japanese yen recently hit a 40-year low. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government has been under mounting pressure to do something about it.
On July 31 and August 1, the US and Japan executed a coordinated yen-buying operation designed to stabilize the currency. A photograph from July 31 reportedly showed Bessent had noted intentions to buy up to $10 billion in Japanese yen as part of the effort.
Bessent then followed up on August 3 with public support for Japan’s monetary measures, describing the yen’s movement as “disorderly” and framing the interventions as necessary stabilization rather than market manipulation.
