Exclusive – Secretary Scott Bessent: U.S. Bond Market Under Trump ‘Best Performing in the World,’ ‘Inflation Expectations are Flat to Down’

The U.S. bond market under President Donald Trump is the “best performing in the world” and inflation expectations are “flat to down,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said during the Breitbart News “State of the Economy” policy event Tuesday.

Breitbart News Finance and Economics Editor John Carney asked Bessent, the “chief bond salesman of the United States,” to explain the purpose of repurchases.

“I think a lot of people got it wrong. They said, ‘Oh, the Treasury Secretary is trying to do QE [quantitative easing]. He is interfering with what the Fed is doing. I saw you guys together, Chairman [Kevin] Warsh, at the G20. It didn’t look like you were at war with each other, so maybe you can explain what … are you doing with the repurchases?” Carney asked.

Bessent explained, “We’re doing a couple of things. One, just the basic function of the operation is that as bonds become older, they become what’s called ‘off the run.’ They are less liquid, and bondholders can get less margin for them. They’re less inclined to hold them. The spreads are wider, so we come in and we make a market.”

“We buy those, the older bonds, and then they re-leverage and buy new bonds,” Bessent said, describing it as a “regenerative process.”

“The other reason I did it was just to level set the expectations that there was like this fever that was building, and having been in the financial markets, like when you’re speculating, you want to speed things up. You want to make as much money as you can, as quickly as you can. And obviously, the financial press is just a bunch of lemmings,” he said, adding, “But they get a hold of a narrative, and I wanted things to become more fact-based. Let’s take a time out. That I don’t believe. As you said, I’m not doing QE. I don’t believe that I can change the equilibrium price. But nothing’s ever in equilibrium.”

“When there’s a disequilibrium, my job is to try to push things back toward the equilibrium,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained during the Breitbart News “State of the Economy” policy discussion on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, in Washington, DC. (Matthew Perdie/Breitbart News)

“You’re either moving away from it or you’re moving toward it. And when things, when there’s a disequilibrium, my job is to try to push things back toward the equilibrium. So, I just want to say, this is a global phenomenon,” he said, declaring that the U.S. bond market, since President Donald Trump came in, “is the best performing in the world.”

“Inflation expectations are flat to down now for five-year forward inflation expectations. And if it were this idea, oh, ‘everyone’s worried about the credit of the U.S.’ If everyone was worried about the credit of the U.S. you would sell U.S. bonds and buy German bonds, and it’s the opposite,” Bessent added. “We’re the best performing.”

WATCH: “State of the Economy” — A Discussion with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: