Scott Bessent dismisses Denmark’s $100 million Treasury selloff as irrelevant

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent looked dead at the cameras today and said, “Denmark’s investment in U.S. Treasury bonds, like Denmark itself, is irrelevant.”

Scott is of course in Davos and was asked about AkademikerPension, a Danish pension fund, dumping $100 million worth of Treasurys. His answer made it clear he couldn’t care less.

This happened as markets were already going haywire. President Donald Trump, now in his second term, had just threatened tariffs on eight European countries. He said 10% duties would start February 1, and could rise to 25%.

His reason? Europe won’t back off Greenland. Stocks dropped, bond prices fell, and yields spiked. Everyone scrambled. And then Denmark made its little bond sale.

Bessent downplays Europe’s bond threats and hits Deutsche Bank

AkademikerPension’s chief investor, Anders Schelde, said they sold the Treasurys because of “poor government finances” in the U.S. But Scott wasn’t having it.“That is less than $100 million,” he said. “They’ve been selling Treasuries for years. I’m not concerned at all.”

Scott reminded reporters that the U.S. is still seeing “record foreign investment” in its Treasurys.

He also pointed to Japan’s snap election. That news triggered a bond sell-off in Tokyo, and Scott said that “spilled over to other markets,” possibly explaining some of the panic selling outside the U.S. too.

As for the theory that European governments might start dumping U.S. assets, Scott had a name: Deutsche Bank. “The notion that Europeans would be selling U.S. assets came from a single analyst at Deutsche Bank,” he said, adding that “the fake news media” made it sound bigger than it is.

That analyst was George Saravelos, head of FX research at the bank. His January 18 note warned that the U.S. has one big weakness: “it relies on others to pay its bills via large external deficits.” He wrote that European governments had $8 trillion in U.S. bonds and stocks. His point was that if Europe’s faith in U.S. stability broke, they could start pulling money fast.

Saravelos also mentioned that Danish funds were “one of the first” to cut back on dollar exposure last year. With the way things have gone over the last few days, he said the chances of more of that happening are “high.”

But Scott had more ammo. He said Deutsche Bank’s CEO called him personally and said the firm didn’t stand by that research.

Trump’s Greenland tariffs, security push spark global reaction

This whole thing is about Greenland. Trump wants it. Europe doesn’t. And Denmark technically owns it.“We are asking our allies to understand that Greenland needs to be part of the United States,” Scott said.

The Arctic is warming. Russia and China are circling. New trade routes are opening. Trump wants to stop them.

But Greenlanders aren’t thrilled. Their business minister, Naaja Nathanielsen, told CNBC they are “bewildered” by Trump’s push. “We have always considered ourselves as an ally of the U.S. and have tried to accommodate the needs from the U.S. over the years and done so happily,” she said.

She added that Trump’s actions feel like “acquiring us like a product or a property.” She didn’t stop there. She mentioned actual “threats of military action and an occupation of our country.”

Leaders on the island say Greenland is open for business, but it’s not for sale.

Scott brought up history. He said the U.S. had already bought the Virgin Islands from Denmark during the First World War because they “understood” their value. He also said this is about America’s position in the world. “President Trump has made it clear that we will not outsource our national security or our hemispheric security to any other countries,” he said.

Then he called out the U.K. “Our partner, the U.K., is letting us down with the base on Diego Garcia,” he said. “They want to turn it over to Mauritius.” That, he said, is proof that America needs to act alone.

He ended with this: “Take a deep breath. Do not have this reflexive anger we’ve seen. Why don’t they sit down and wait for President Trump to get here and listen to his argument, because I think they are going to be persuaded.”

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