Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reaffirmed their intention to cooperate on exchange-rate policy during a bilateral meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, on August 31. It was their first in-person meeting since the coordinated Japan-U.S. currency intervention in late July. Katayama said they agreed that an orderly yen exchange rate is important to global financial-market stability, including in the United States. The ministers also discussed Japan’s policy of steadily reducing its debt-to-GDP ratio while balancing economic strength with fiscal sustainability, which Katayama said received Bessent’s understanding. The broader G20 meeting addressed the global economic effects of the Middle East situation, member nations’ fiscal policies and economic imbalances. Bessent criticized policies that favor domestic exports, while Katayama called for the withdrawal of arbitrary export restrictions on critical minerals such as rare earths. She also said Japan’s planned consumption-tax reduction on food products, scheduled for April 2027, would not rely on deficit-covering bonds. The meeting has also placed Bessent’s economic diplomacy under scrutiny as the U.S. pushes trade reviews involving China and considers weekly secondary sanctions against foreign companies and individuals doing business with Iran. The U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on an Egyptian bank with branches in the United Arab Emirates on August 29 over Iran-related transactions. Concerns about U.S. fiscal credibility have intensified after federal debt surpassed $40 trillion, approximately ¥6,398 trillion, on August 19, doubling since 2017. The G20 meeting runs through September 1, with the United States seeking a joint communiqué, while a G7 meeting held on August 31 is not expected to issue a joint statement.