Japan says no plan to threaten Treasuries sale in US trade talks

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By Makiko Yamazaki

(Reuters) – Japan has no plans to threaten to sell its $1 trillion-plus holdings of U.S. Treasuries in trade talks with Washington, its finance minister said on Sunday, clarifying earlier remarks that the bond holdings could be used as a bargaining chip.

“My comments were made in response to a question whether Japan could, as a bargaining tool in trade negotiations, explicitly reassure Washington it wouldn’t sell its Treasury holdings easily,” Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato said.

“The comments weren’t meant to suggest selling Treasury holdings,” Kato told a press conference in Milan.

In a television interview on Friday, Kato said Japan’s U.S. Treasury holdings could be used as a card in trade negotiations, raising explicitly for the first time its leverage as a massive creditor to the United States.

Kato in the interview added whether Japan actually uses that card is a different question.

At the press conference on Sunday, Kato repeated that the primary purpose of Japan’s U.S. Treasury holdings – the largest in the world – is to ensure it has sufficient liquidity to conduct yen intervention when necessary.

“This has been our stance, and we don’t plan to use sale of U.S. Treasury holdings as a bargaining tool in the negotiations,” he said.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Giles Elgood)