Bessent Defends Bond Buyback Strategy Against Druckenmiller Critique at G20 Meeting

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly pushed back against Stanley Druckenmiller, his former mentor, at the G20 finance meeting in Asheville, North Carolina on August 31, defending his decision to dramatically expand the Treasury's long-dated bond buyback program. Bessent told CNBC's Sara Eisen that Druckenmiller "changes his mind a lot" and "doesn't like losing money," adding that he believes Druckenmiller lost money on the very day his critical op-ed was submitted, because Treasuries outperformed in the wake of the intervention.

The dispute stems from Bessent's August 19 announcement that the Treasury would at least double its buyback operations for longer-dated debt, lifting the ceiling per operation from $2 billion to $4 billion, with expanded purchases set to begin September 9. Druckenmiller, writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed titled "Let the Bond Market Speak," argued there was no liquidity freeze justifying the move and warned that "governments defending prices against fundamentals always lose." The buyback program is part of a broader interventionist approach by Bessent that also included a joint U.S.-Japan currency operation in early August to support the yen and prevent the Bank of Japan from selling Treasurys, which would have pushed U.S. yields higher.

Bessent said he spoke with Druckenmiller after the op-ed was published and described the conversation as going "fine." Speaking at the G20 alongside Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh, Bessent framed the bond buybacks as a corrective market measure, pointing to long-bond yields pulling back from recent peaks as evidence the strategy is working. The interventions have nonetheless raised concerns among G20 central bankers about the Treasury making further moves in a market long associated with "regular and predictable" debt issuance.