Japan's Katayama, US Treasury's Bessent hold online talks to discuss yen, TBS reports

TOKYO - Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama held an online meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent late Monday to discuss the yen's sharp decline, local broadcaster TBS reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The discussions focused on policy responses to the historically weak yen, potentially including the possibility of currency intervention, TBS said.

The yen briefly weakened to around 161.9 late Monday, just shy of a two-year low reached last week. A break above 161.96 would take the yen to its weakest level since 1986.

Tokyo spent a record 11.7 trillion yen ($72.44 billion) intervening in foreign exchange markets between late April and early May.

(Reporting by Makiko Yamazaki; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

Copyright Reuters or USA Today Network via Reuters Connect.

This story was originally published June 22, 2026 at 4:19 PM.