By Leika Kihara
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan does not manipulate the currency market to weaken the yen, Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato told parliament on Friday, countering accusations from U.S. President Donald Trump that Japan intentionally depreciates its currency to help exporters.
Kato is scheduled to visit Washington next week to attend the G20 finance leaders’ gathering and spring IMF meetings, where he may also hold a bilateral meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
“Japan does not manipulate the currency market to intentionally weaken the yen, as seen by the fact our latest action was to conducted yen-buying intervention,” Kato told lawmakers when asked about Trump’s comments criticising Japan for giving its exports a trade advantage by weakening the yen.
In March, Trump said he told the leaders of Japan and China they could not continue to reduce the value of their currencies, as doing so would be unfair to the United States.
Kato said no date has been fixed yet on a possible meeting with Bessent. He declined to comment on what could be discussed, saying only that he was aware that the U.S. was interested in discussing exchange-rate matters.
The Nikkei newspaper reported that Kato may meet Bessent in Washington as early as Tuesday.
(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
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