Japanese Finance Minister rebuts accusations from Trump before visiting the United States: Japan did not manipulate currency markets to weaken the yen.

Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said on Friday in Parliament that Japan did not manipulate the currency market to weaken the yen, refuting U.S. President Trump's accusations that Japan intentionally devalued its currency to help exporters. When asked about Trump's claim that Japan gained a trade advantage by weakening the yen, Kato told lawmakers, "Japan did not manipulate the currency market to intentionally weaken the yen, just as our recent operations involved buying yen interventions." Kato's remarks come ahead of his planned visit to Washington next week, where he may hold bilateral talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent during the G20 Finance Ministers meeting and the IMF Spring Meeting. If the talks happen, it will be a major opportunity for Japan and the U.S. to discuss the thorny issue of exchange rates. Kato stated that he is aware that the U.S. is interested in discussing exchange rate issues, but he refused to comment on the possible contents of the discussions. He also mentioned that a date for the potential talks with Bessent has not been confirmed yet. Trade negotiations between Japan and the U.S. were held in Washington on Wednesday. The market had initially expected that exchange rate issues would be discussed during the negotiations. One of the reasons the yen has recently appreciated is because the market anticipated that the U.S. might urge Japan to join coordinated actions to weaken the dollar to help reduce America's large trade deficit. However, Japan's negotiator and Minister of Economic Revitalization Ryosei Akazawa stated that exchange rate issues were not mentioned in his discussions with Trump and other U.S. officials. He added that this issue should be handled by Kato and Bessent. Therefore, Akazawa's comments have shifted market focus to the talks that Kato may have with Bessent next week. Some analysts suggest that any discussions about the yen could affect the Bank of Japan's monetary policy, as the BOJ's ultralow interest rates and its slow pace in raising rates could come under attack from the United States if they maintain a weak yen. BOJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda refused to comment on the yen exchange rate during his speech in Parliament on Friday, reiterating that they will continue to raise rates if the economic trends align with the BOJ's expectations. When asked if the BOJ might choose to raise rates at the policy meeting on April 30th to May 1st under U.S. pressure, Kuroda said, "We will appropriately guide monetary policy from the perspective of achieving 2% inflation stably and sustainably." Due to the global market turmoil caused by the Trump administration's tariff measures and heightened concerns about a global economic recession, the market currently expects the BOJ to keep the benchmark rate unchanged at 0.5% during the policy meeting on April 30th to May 1st, while also lowering economic growth forecasts.