10-year Treasury yield hits 4.795%, a 2026 high
The G-20 finance ministers’ gathering in Asheville, N.C., closed Tuesday without a consensus statement as a global bond-market selloff pushed the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield to 4.795% — its highest level of 2026 and the highest since President Trump began a second term. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who hosted the meeting in the Blue Ridge Mountains, said at a press conference at its conclusion that the sessions were productive, tackling trade imbalances, artificial intelligence and sovereign debt.
The United States arrived carrying roughly $40 trillion in government debt and used the meeting to argue that economic growth can outrun it. “The world is awash in debt,” Bessent told reporters Monday. “The only way for us to get out of this is to grow our way out of it.” After the summit he added, “With America once again leading this forum, the days of settling for subpar growth are over. The discussions we’ve had here this week leave me confident that many of our partners are now prepared to join us.”
The bond market, however, was moving against that premise. A selloff pushed yields higher and raised governments’ borrowing costs, with short- and long-term yield benchmarks both setting new 2026 highs Tuesday. Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh joined the summit facing a decision about whether to raise interest rates as soon as this month, and has suggested the Fed might need to act — a factor pushing yields higher.
Bessent released a statement he said reflected the general position of every country present except China, which he said was unlikely to agree to pointed language about trade imbalances. The statement said “countries with excessive and persistent external surpluses should remove distortions that constrain domestic consumption and that result in an overreliance on exports for growth.” Without China’s backing, the group was unable to issue an official consensus statement. The Wall Street Journal reported it did not independently confirm that all countries at the summit agreed with the statement.
Russia’s participation was a source of tension at the summit. Russia had not been invited to the forum since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and European ministers said they would not take part in the traditional “family photo” if Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was included, people familiar with the matter said. Germany’s Lars Klingbeil told reporters the joint European approach “ultimately led to this family photo taking place without the Russian finance minister, without the Russian delegation.” Bessent said of the Russian minister’s presence, “I know that some Europeans had a sour taste, but I think it’s very important to engage.”
The summit also featured public exchanges between the United States and Canada. Bessent said it was impossible for the U.S. neighbor to wage a tit-for-tat trade war with “someone who’s 13 times larger than you are,” and joked that Canada might send mini-submarines once used on an amusement-park ride to attack the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted a photo on social media of two young women at a Canadian cadet training center that was interpreted as mocking their weight and gender. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday, “When the Americans stop doing memes, stop throwing shade, stop trying to be tough, and start being serious about having those discussions, we can have those discussions. But look, it’s not constructive.”
Other delegates expressed frustration at the distraction. “I think that in this world where tensions are numerous, it’s probably no time to add tensions, especially between two historical partners,” French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said. Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, who met with Bessent on Tuesday, said before the meeting, “The message I am going to bring, of course, is that we are going to stand up for our workers.”
Bessent also pressed the standoff with Iran, comparing the country to a dying snake still wriggling after decapitation. His threats to impose sanctions on Iran’s trading partners hung over his Sunday meeting with China’s central bank governor. He told former Trump adviser Larry Kudlow at the summit that “the Chinese agree Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon” and “that there should be freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.” The U.S.-Iran standoff has added to inflation and put bond markets on edge.
Leaders of two of America’s biggest banks — Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon and JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon — took part in a roundtable discussion with finance ministers Monday, after the administration privately requested the executives discuss the state of the U.S. economy, according to a person familiar with the matter. Dimon welcomed the invitation. “For the first time at G-20, the Treasury has given the private sector a place at the table. Good policy is made better when those who lend, hire, invest and build have a voice in shaping it,” he said. Solomon told CNBC his outlook is “pretty constructive” and the “economy is performing well,” noting headwinds from conflicts in the Middle East and trade wars.
Some executives who met with Bessent told their advisers he made the case privately that the U.S. economy remains strong, offering few new details on how the administration plans to handle Iran or the sluggish market. The U.S. economy has shown signs of strain — large budget deficits, high gasoline prices, a labor market that lost 23,000 jobs in July, and inflation still above the Federal Reserve’s target. Bessent said Monday, “We have stabilized the patient, and now we are in the healing portion,” describing himself at times as “an emergency-room doctor.”
The G-20 intends the finance ministers’ event to be a substantive appetizer for the leaders’ summit, which Trump will host at his Doral, Fla., resort in December. The Treasury Department did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the summit.