Japan’s chief trade negotiator Ryosei Akazawa said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent isn’t directly asking Japan to hike interest rates, a day after Bessent moved markets by describing the Bank of Japan as being behind the curve in fighting inflation.

They’re behind the curve so they are going to be hiking and they need to get their inflation problem under control,” Bessent told Bloomberg TV, comments that stood in contrast to the position of Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda.