Japan seeks fairness in currency talks with US Prime Minister Ishiba says

TOKYO – Japan will emphasise “fairness” in any discussions with the US on exchange rates, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said on April 20, as bilateral trade talks grab global attention in US President Donald Trump’s tariff offensive.

Mr Ishiba, in a talk show on public broadcaster NHK, indicated Tokyo could buy more US energy and suggested flexibility on US accusations of non-tariff barriers to the Japanese automobile market.

Mr Trump – who unexpectedly joined the first round of US-Japan talks on April 16 and touted “big progress” – has indicated he wants the negotiations to include his accusations that Tokyo intentionally weakens its currency to give its exporters an unfair advantage.

Mr Ishiba said specific discussions on currency policy will be made between Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

“We’ll have to deal with this issue from the standpoint of fairness,” Mr Ishiba said, when asked how Japan would respond if the US asked for cooperation in boosting the yen. He did not elaborate.

Japan, which denies manipulating the yen, has over the years typically fought to keep a strong yen from hurting its export-reliant economy, but it last intervened in the foreign exchange market in 2024 to boost its currency.

Mr Kato plans to visit Washington this week for a meeting of the Group of 20 finance chiefs on the sidelines of the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund. He is widely expected to meet Mr Bessent for bilateral trade talks.

Could lift US energy imports

Some analysts say Japan could use its huge US Treasury holdings – the largest in the world at over US$1 trillion (S$1.3 trillion) – as trade leverage, but Mr Kato has ruled out using them as a bargaining tool.

“This is something that’s based on trust between the two