New York
CNN
—
One of America’s closest allies recently raised eyebrows for threatening to fire off the ultimate financial weapon against Washington in trade talks: dumping US debt.
Japanese Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato, whose country is the biggest holder of US Treasuries, said on Friday that selling the assets is a “card on the table” in tariff negotiations, according to The Associated Press.
“It does exist as a card, but I think whether we choose to use it or not would be a separate decision,” Kato said.
Two days later, the Japanese official walked back the comment, stressing on Sunday that the longtime US ally is “not considering the sale of US Treasuries as a means of Japan-US negotiations.”
Japan was unlikely to fire this big bazooka in the…
