US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the first discussions with Japan and South Korea this week were “productive,” Reuters said on Friday.
After meeting the Japanese Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato in Washington, Bessent said that he had “welcomed the strong start” between the two countries while they opened new bilateral negotiations. Discussions have focused on the search for means to strengthen trade between the allies, without new restrictions.
On Thursday, Bessent also met the South Korean Minister for Finance Choi Sang-Mok, the South Korean Minister Ahn Duk-Geun and the representative of the United States Jamieson Greer.
The treasure said The group agreed with “additional productive discussions, including monetary policy”, and clearly indicated that the two parties wanted to advance trade instead of setting up obstacles. Bessent said he appreciated the “rapid and positive commitment” of South Korea on pricing issues.
Currency and price problems are hot in Washington meetings
Thursday's talks also showed that currency policy would remain a hot topic. Even if Japan has avoided direct pressure from the United States to increase Yen for the moment, officials have said that exchange rates and interest rate measures of the Banque de Japan will be major problems in larger trade negotiations.
After sitting with Bessent for about 50 minutes, Katsunobu Kato told journalists that they had not spoken to set exchange rates targets or create a type of system to control the yen.
“There was no discussion on exchange rate objectives,” said Kato when he was asked for money questions. A head of the Japanese Ministry of Finance also confirmed that the United States has made no accusation that Japan deliberately weakened the Yen.
When journalists have pressed more, Kato remained tight. When asked if the United States made direct requests, he said: “I cannot comment because it goes directly to real discussions.” The meeting took place during the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank spring meetings in Washington.
Yen discussions are still on the table in Japanese talks
However, there were clear signs that money discussions do not disappear. Kato said Japan and the United States “continue to close and build on exchange rates” as part of ongoing bilateral trade negotiations. Analysts have taken this as an index that Washington could push for changes in the future to help companies.
Next week, the best Japanese commercial negotiator Ryosei Akazawa will go to Washington for the second round of talks. Things should become more difficult. President Donald Trump, who is back in the White House, was noisy to reduce the American trade deficit.
Its past claims that Japan maintains the low -to -purpose yen raised the expectations of the market that Tokyo could be forced to let the yen get up, giving us exporters to beat foreign competitors.
This week's meetings may have been calm on the surface, but the road to come seems anything but slowly. With the Trump team locked up on the narrowing of the gap and the old accusations still fresh, Japan could face real pressure to give ground in talks.
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