Japan denies using $1 trillion in U.S. Treasuries as a bargaining chip in trade talks

according to Reuters, Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso denied in Milan that Japan plans to use the threat of selling over $1 trillion in US Treasury bonds in trade negotiations. Two days earlier, Aso had hinted in a television interview that Japan might use its US bond holdings as a bargaining chip, causing a brief disturbance in the global bond market.

Aso explained that his previous remarks were in response to questions about whether Japan could assure Washington that it would not easily sell US bonds, emphasizing that the main purpose of holding US Treasury bonds is to provide the government with enough foreign exchange to stabilize the yen when necessary. At the same time, the Bank of Japan kept short-term interest rates unchanged at 0.5%, with Governor Haruhiko Kuroda stating that the timeline for achieving the 2% inflation target has been delayed due to the impact of new US tariffs.