Bessent: U.S. Debt Problem Can Be Solved with 3% GDP Growth

[Financial News] U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent emphasized that the country could escape the national debt problem if it achieves 3% annual economic growth and controls government spending.
According to a report by Yahoo Finance on the 8th (local time), Secretary Bessent stated at a dialogue event at the Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas, "The United States has a spending problem, not an import problem," adding, "If 3% growth is combined with spending restraint, we can overcome the debt on our own."
The total national debt of the United States recently surpassed $40 trillion (approximately 536 quadrillion won), and the annual fiscal deficit is also projected to exceed $2 trillion by the end of the fiscal year on September 30.
Secretary Bessent stated that he is developing a fiscal consolidation plan with White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought to reduce the fiscal deficit. He also expressed regret, noting that if President Donald Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff measures had not been invalidated by the Supreme Court of the United States, approximately $180 billion in tax revenue could have been secured and used to repay debt.
Bessent proposed expanding long-term government bond buybacks as a measure to stabilize the market. He explained, "We will induce additional purchases by investors by supplying funds to the government bond market, which has the highest liquidity in a high-interest rate environment."
Furthermore, it was predicted that if an oil supply surplus occurs within one to two years due to the stabilization of the situation in the Middle East and the strengthening of energy cooperation with Venezuela, the current high interest rate trend, which is closely linked to oil prices, will also ease.

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