Katayama, Bessent Coordinate Yen Intervention After Currency Hits 164 per Dollar
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Sep 1
Katayama, Bessent Coordinate Yen Intervention After Currency Hits 164 per Dollar
3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Sep 1
Summary
Late July brought an unusual joint currency-market intervention by Japan’s Satsuki Katayama and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, temporarily lifting the yen after it slid to 164 per dollar.
Bessent had pressed Japan in a May Tokyo dinner, arguing the yen’s four-decade weakness reflected heavy government spending and Bank of Japan policies that kept interest rates too low.
He viewed the slump as a dual problem: it worsened imported inflation in Japan and fed President Donald Trump’s long-running complaint that a weak yen disadvantages U.S. exporters.
The episode puts Katayama — Japan’s first female finance minister — at the center of a broader fight over whether Tokyo should give the BOJ more autonomy and tolerate a stronger currency.