When Japanese finance minister Satsuki Katayama called Scott Bessent for help to support the cratering yen in June, her U.S. counterpart's response was familiar: If Tokyo wanted assistance, it had to get its fiscal house in order.
For months, Treasury Secretary Bessent had told Katayama and other officials privately that Japan should rein in its massive fiscal spending and that its central bank needed to raise interest rates, according to three people familiar with the situation.
