Bessent sees no reason for Japan to halt overseas asset accumulation

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made it clear: Japan’s massive portfolio of overseas assets isn’t a problem Washington wants solved. His remarks, delivered alongside coordinated currency interventions with Tokyo, paint a picture of two economic powers locking arms at a moment when the yen is under historic pressure. Coordinated interventions and a 40-year low The Japanese yen recently hit a 40-year low. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government has been under mounting pressure to do something about it. On July 31 and August 1, the US and Japan executed a coordinated yen-buying operation designed to stabilize the currency. A photograph from July 31 reportedly showed Bessent had noted intentions to buy up to $10 billion in Japanese yen as part of the effort. Bessent then followed up on August 3 with public support for Japan’s monetary measures, describing the yen’s movement as “disorderly” and framing the interventions as necessary stabilization rather than market manipulation. The liquidity backstop angle Bessent also proposed enhancements to the Federal Reserve’s FIMA Repo Facility, a mechanism that allows foreign central banks to temporarily swap their US Treasury holdings fo...