Japan says it has no plans to threaten the sale of U.S. Treasury securities in trade negotiations
Japan has no plans to threaten to sell its more than $1 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities in trade negotiations with Washington, its finance minister said on Sunday, clarifying previous comments that the securities could be used as a bargaining chip.
"My comments were made in response to a question about whether Japan could, as a bargaining tool in trade negotiations, explicitly assure Washington that it would not easily sell its Treasury securities," said Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato.
"The comments were not intended to suggest the sale of Treasury securities," Kato said at a press conference in Milan.
In a television interview on Friday, Kato said that Japan's U.S. Treasury securities could be used as a card up its sleeve in trade negotiations, explicitly increasing for the first time its influence as a major creditor of the United States.
Kato added in the interview that whether Japan actually uses that card is a different question.
At the Sunday press conference, Kato reiterated that the main goal of Japan's U.S. Treasury securities — the largest in the world — is to ensure sufficient liquidity to conduct an intervention in the yen when necessary.
"That has been our position, and we do not plan to use the sale of U.S. Treasury securities as a bargaining tool in negotiations," he said.
Source: Reuters
