Kyodo News Agency reported on February 2 that Taro Aso, Japan’s finance minister, held his first telephone talks with Biden’s government finance minister Yellen on the evening of the 1st.
In an interview with the media after the talks, Aso said that the two sides confirmed that in order to get rid of the economic crisis caused by the spread of the novel coronavirus epidemic, “Japan and the United States will cooperate closely”.
The telephone conversation was held around 11 p.m. Japanese time on the 1st.
Aso congratulated Yellen on his assumption of finance minister and said he “looked to work with you”.
Yellen stressed the need for huge fiscal measures in the coronavirus response and signaled that the exchange rate policy was not obsessive to the depreciation of the dollar.
“We reiterate that it is vital to maintain consensus within the G7 and G20,” Taro Aso told reporters after the talks, Reuters reported.
