Scott Bessent testifies on international financial system before Congress

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent sat before the House Financial Services Committee on September 15 to deliver his annual testimony on the state of the international financial system. The message was straightforward: the US dollar remains king, and the administration intends to keep it that way. Bessent framed the hearing around America’s leadership at institutions like the IMF and World Bank, while painting a picture of an economy firing on most cylinders. Over one million private sector jobs created under President Trump. More than 64 million tax returns filed claiming benefits from recent tax cuts. Rising real wages. The dollar’s reserve status and what’s propping it up Bessent’s central thesis was that the dollar’s dominance as the world’s primary reserve currency isn’t an accident or a product of favorable exchange rate swings. It’s the result, he argued, of deliberate policy choices that have driven an increase in dollar-denominated transactions globally. The 10-year Treasury yield briefly exceeded 5% during the hearing period, a level that tends to make both bond investors and mortgage holders uncomfortable. A 5% yield on the benchmark Treasury note reflects rising borrowing ...