Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: 'Absolutely not' intervening in the currency market

Watch on YouTube ↗  |  January 28, 2026 at 16:34  |  3:17  |  CNBC
Speakers
Scott Bessent — Treasury Secretary

Summary

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent discusses the U.S. dollar, U.S. asset appeal, and currency-market intervention on CNBC. He reiterates a strong dollar policy and argues sound tax, regulatory, and energy policies should attract capital and strengthen the dollar over time. Bessent says the U.S. is not intervening to strengthen the yen and predicts strong economic growth with contained inflation due to deregulation and productivity. The transcript excerpt focuses on macro policy, FX, and the U.S. investment environment.

  • Bessent reiterates a strong dollar policy based on sound fundamentals.
  • He says U.S. policies aim to attract capital and make the U.S. the best place to build a business.
  • He denies U.S. intervention to strengthen the yen.
  • He expects a very strong U.S. economy this year.
  • He argues deregulation and productivity can allow growth without sparking inflation.
  • He cites Atlanta Fed GDPNow at 5.4%.
  • He says trade deficits are coming down, supporting the dollar over time.
  • He emphasizes tax, regulatory, and energy certainty.
Ideas
Scott Bessent Treasury Secretary 0:29
Dollar strengthens over time on sound policies.
Bessent argues the U.S. maintains a strong dollar policy, but that means setting the right fundamentals. With President Trump, the One Big Beautiful Bill, and deregulatory policies creating tax, regulatory, and energy certainty, capital should flow into the U.S. and trade deficits should fall, which automatically should lead to more dollar strength over time despite short-term price fluctuations.
UUP HIGH
Scott Bessent Treasury Secretary 0:43
U.S. is best place to invest.
Bessent says the Trump administration's policies—the One Big Beautiful Bill and deregulatory agenda—are making the U.S. the best place to build a business by providing tax certainty, regulatory certainty, and energy certainty, which should attract capital into U.S. assets.
SPY MED
Scott Bessent Treasury Secretary 1:20
No U.S. intervention to strengthen yen.
When asked whether the U.S. is intervening in currency markets to strengthen the yen, Bessent says 'absolutely not' and declines to comment beyond reiterating a strong dollar policy. This removes U.S. intervention as a near-term support for the yen and leaves the yen's direction to other drivers, making it a setup to watch.
FXY MED
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This CNBC video, published January 28, 2026, features Scott Bessent discussing UUP, SPY, FXY. 3 trade ideas extracted by AI with direction and confidence scoring.

Speakers: Scott Bessent  · Tickers: UUP, SPY, FXY