Japan urges G20 to stabilise markets, warns of US tariff damage

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By Leika Kihara

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato on Wednesday urged G20 counterparts to cooperate in stabilising markets, warning that U.S. tariffs and countermeasures taken by some countries were hurting global growth and destabilising financial markets.

Kato also said he would hold bilateral talks with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Thursday, though he did not comment on what Japan hoped to discuss in the meeting.

“Geopolitical problems such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as U.S. tariff measures and countermeasures taken by some countries, have heightened uncertainty, destabilised markets including currency rates, and hurt growth,” Kato said.

“The G20 must monitor developments carefully, exchange information, and coordinate in responding nimbly to maintain economic and market stability,” Kato told a news conference after attending the G7 and G20 finance leaders’ meetings in Washington.

Kato said he also raised China’s excess production capacity in his meeting with G7 counterparts, and urged the group of advanced nations to jointly urge China to resolve “domestic imbalances” and help the global economy achieve more balanced growth.

Finance ministers and central bank governors of the G7 advanced nations and the broader G20 major economies are meeting in Washington on the sidelines of the annual spring International Monetary Fund and World Bank gatherings.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Additional reporting by Satoshi Sugiyama and Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Christopher Cushing, Christian Schmollinger and Kate Mayberry)