Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said the U.S. understands Japan's currency intervention conducted on April 30, 2024 [1].
This diplomatic alignment is critical for market stability. By publicly confirming that the U.S. accepts Japan's actions, Tokyo aims to reduce market volatility and signal a coordinated approach to managing the yen's value.
Katayama said these details following a dinner meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent at a hotel in Tokyo [2]. During the meeting, the two officials discussed the necessity and conditions for currency interventions to address the excessive fluctuations of the yen [3].
Katayama said that the two sides reaffirmed a joint statement from September 2023, which specifies that interventions will occur only in cases of excessive volatility [4]. This confirmation serves as a baseline for future fiscal cooperation between the two nations.
"Regarding the joint statement by the Japanese and U.S. finance ministers last September, which stated that [interventions] would be carried out only when there is excessive volatility, we have firmly reaffirmed it. It was very good," Katayama said [4].
The Finance Minister said that she expressed her recognition that the U.S. side had reached an understanding regarding the specific intervention Japan executed on April 30, 2024 [1]. The meeting concluded with a mutual agreement to maintain communication regarding the stability of foreign exchange markets [3].
“"We have firmly reaffirmed it. It was very good,"”
This confirmation mitigates the risk of diplomatic friction between the U.S. and Japan over currency manipulation charges. By anchoring current actions to the September 2023 joint statement, Japan is signaling to global traders that its interventions are not unilateral attacks on the dollar but are sanctioned tools used only under specific, agreed-upon conditions of market instability.
