Brad Setser: U.S. primary fiscal deficit exceeds Japan’s in 2025

Brad Setser: U.S. primary fiscal deficit exceeds Japan’s in 2025
U.S. fiscal deficit eclipses Japan’s

Brad Setser highlights that the Japanese yen is declining in value against the dollar, despite the U.S. not being a model of fiscal discipline.

He points out that the primary fiscal deficit of the U.S. is notably larger than that of Japan, which was under a percentage point of GDP in 2025.

Setser has recently tracked changes in global capital flows and trade balances. He noted that China’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries in U.S. custodians have dropped to an 18-year low. In a separate update, he reported that German auto exports to China have fallen sharply, risking about 0.6 percentage points of GDP. These observations come as investors assess economic risks across major economies.

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