Reuters reveals major US-Japan news! Bessent's "to-do list" exposed: plans to spend $5 billions to $10 billions to buy Japanese yen

On August 1, Reuters UK released an exclusive report stating that last Friday (July 31), US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accidentally revealed a “to-do” list during a Cabinet meeting held by President Donald Trump at Camp David. Photos taken by Reuters at the meeting showed he was considering purchasing 500 million to 1 billion USD worth of Japanese yen.

(Screenshot source: Reuters)

This photo was taken during the portion of the meeting open to the press. The camera captured over Bessent’s shoulder, clearly showing the word “To Do” underlined in his Camp David notebook, with “Buy 500 million to 1 billion USD in yen (JPY)” written below.

No other writing was displayed in the notebook. The photo also shows Bessent’s nameplate placed just above the notebook on the Camp David conference table. The photo was taken at 11:33 a.m. (EDT) on July 31 (15:33 GMT).

About two hours before the photo was taken, Reuters quoted a source familiar with the matter as saying that the US Treasury had informed several banks that it might intervene in the yen market last Friday.

Earlier last Friday, the Japanese authorities had already acted in Tokyo to support the yen, causing the yen to rally sharply in early Asian trading.

Nearing the close last Friday, another significant appreciation of the yen against the dollar appeared. Data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) showed that the USD/JPY exchange rate was around 158.9 at approximately 4:14 p.m. Eastern (20:14 GMT) and fell to about 157.6 by just before 5 p.m. Eastern (21:00 GMT), a drop of approximately 0.8%.

This joint intervention in the foreign exchange market by the US and Japan was the first such coordinated action in 15 years, since the joint intervention following the rapid appreciation of the yen after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.