Bessent Fires Back at Warren Over Yen Intervention

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has accused Senator Elizabeth Warren of misunderstanding the U.S. intervention in the Japanese yen, saying she treated a currency purchase as a loan that Japan would have to repay.

Bessent made the comments on X after releasing a letter dated Thursday that answered Warren's Aug. 13 request for details on the Treasury Department's use of the Exchange Stabilization Fund to buy yen.

The fund is a Treasury reserve used at times to stabilize currency markets, and Bessent explained in his letter that no new congressional appropriation was involved and no credit was extended to Japan.

Bessent said Warren incorrectly assumed that American taxpayers would ultimately bear the cost if Japan were unable to repay the Treasury. He wrote that there is therefore no risk that Japan will fail to repay a debt that does not exist.