Scott Bessent on the national debt: ‘There’s nothing magic about the $40 trillion number’

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that there is no special significance to the U.S. national debt reaching $40 trillion for the first time. He believes America can "grow our way out" of the debt. The milestone was reached just five months after hitting $39 trillion in March. In an attempt to address market concerns, Bessent announced that the Treasury would double the size of its buyback operations for longer-dated securities, increasing them to at least $4 billion per operation.

This change will be in effect starting September 9 and will cover the 10-to-20-year and 20-to-30-year sectors that have faced a liquidity issue since late June. Bessent argues that the deficit is smaller than it seems, and many of the costs are one-time, such as tariff refunds and the cost of immediate expense deductions for new factories and equipment.

He believes these are actually investments in the future and will increase the nation's wealth by boosting the after-tax return on capital. Bessent also mentioned that there may be additional measures to address the deficit, possibly announced toward the end of the week or beginning of the next week.