Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday brushed off concerns about a market selloff prompted by President Donald Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland and called Denmark “irrelevant.”
Stocks, bonds, and the dollar fell Tuesday while gold and silver prices surged, as investors eyed heightening tensions between the U.S. and Europe. Some analysts have suggested a broad selloff of U.S. Treasuries could be in the cards. When the Danish pension fund AkademikerPension said it was selling off its $100 million holding of U.S. debt, that fear took a step closer to becoming a reality. The fund’s investing chief Anders Schelde said the sale was prompted by “poor [U.S.] government finances.”
But speaking at the Wor…
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Wednesday brushed off concerns about a market selloff prompted by President Donald Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland and called Denmark “irrelevant.”
Stocks, bonds, and the dollar fell Tuesday while gold and silver prices surged, as investors eyed heightening tensions between the U.S. and Europe. Some analysts have suggested a broad selloff of U.S. Treasuries could be in the cards. When the Danish pension fund AkademikerPension said it was selling off its $100 million holding of U.S. debt, that fear took a step closer to becoming a reality. The fund’s investing chief Anders Schelde said the sale was prompted by “poor [U.S.] government finances.”
But speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday, Bessent said that “Denmark’s investment in U.S. Treasury bonds, like Denmark itself, is irrelevant. … That is less than $100 million. They’ve been selling Treasuries for years, I’m not concerned at all.”
Still, U.S. bond yields have risen over the last week. Ten-year Treasuries have gone from 4.14% last week to 4.27% on Wednesday, signaling a selloff. Bond yields move inversely to prices, and when they rise it means it is more expensive for governments to borrow money.
Bessent said the U.S. has had “record foreign investment” in Treasuries and linked the selloff to bond market problems in Japan after the announcement of a snap election in the country. “I think it is very difficult to disaggregate any of the noise around Greenland, around the inflammatory statements by President Macron, by President von der Leyen, from what we have seen in the Japanese bond markets,” he said.
Trump is set to speak in Davos on Wednesday after saying he will slap a 10% tariff, later rising to 25%, “on any and all goods” sent to the U.S. from countries including the U.K., Denmark, France, and Germany as he aggressively pursues taking control of Greenland, a self-governing part of the Danish kingdom.
European leaders have indicated that in response to the threats, they will not sign a trade deal with the U.S. that was set to be finalized later this month. If it is not completed, new tariffs on goods coming from the U.S. to Europe would kick in on Feb. 7.
Bessent earlier this week told European countries not to retaliate against the tariffs, urging them to pause and “let things play out.”