Bessent’s Economic D-Day Under Fire as Debt Soars and Iran Pressure Mounts

Scott Bessent, Trump’s Treasury secretary, grapples with a $40tn national debt and volatile markets as he tries to translate the president’s aim of ‘economic pressure’ on Iran into policy, including a yen intervention and larger bond buybacks that critics call band-aids. His handling, viewed by some as ill-prepared, could either restrain or enable Trump’s impulsive economic approach, while tariffs and the risk of a broader trade clash loom over the U.S.’s safe-haven status.