Japan’s huge US$1 trillion-plus in US Treasury holdings are among the tools available for Tokyo to use in trade negotiations with the United States, Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said on Friday.
The remark came as Japan’s top trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa met with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington for a second round of bilateral tariff talks.
Kato said the primary purpose of Japan’s US Treasury holdings – the largest in the world – is to ensure it has sufficient liquidity to conduct yen intervention when necessary.
“But we obviously need to put all cards on the table in negotiations. It could be among such cards,” Kato said in a television programme when asked whether Japan, in trade talks with the US, could reassure Washington it will not sell its Treasury holdings in the market.
“Whether we actually use that card, however, is a different question,” Kato added.
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The comments contrast with those Kato made last month, when he ruled out using Japan’s US Treasury holdings as trade leverage.
