US Treasury Secretary Bessent says Japan should stop the reflation now and Abenomics is done, adds Abenomics has worked and it is time for Takaichi-nomics

US Treasury secretaries have a long history of public commentary on Japanese economic policy, and episodes of this kind have tended to be read in Tokyo through the currency channel, since past Washington pressure on Japan has clustered around exchange-rate levels and the perception that yen weakness is tolerated or engineered. The framing here is notable for its direction: rather than pressing Japan to stimulate, it endorses the reflation as complete and signals comfort with a shift toward tighter or more orthodox policy under new political leadership, which inverts the usual bilateral script. Remarks from a foreign finance official carry no formal weight over the Bank of Japan, but markets have on previous occasions treated US commentary as permissive cover for domestic policy moves, particularly around rate normalisation and fiscal stance. The transmission runs through JGB yields and the yen rather than through any direct mechanism, and the relevant distinction is whether this is read as blessing BoJ tightening or as a political endorsement of the incoming administration's agenda. Follow-ons worth noting are any BoJ official response, the new cabinet's fiscal signals, and whether further US officials repeat the line, since repetition is what has historically converted commentary into perceived policy coordination.