The US Department of the Treasury announced support measures on August 19 local time, a day after the yields on the 30-year US Treasury bond hit 5.3%, the highest level since 2007. The measures helped ease the yields slightly to 5.23% by the close on August 20. Skyrocketing US Treasury yields have rattled global markets in recent weeks, bringing focus on deep-seated structural issues in the US economy. 

What is inescapable is that the US federal government debt has now surpassed $40 trillion, with the federal budget deficit reaching $1.8 trillion in the first 10 months of the 2026 fiscal year, seemingly trapping the government in a vicious cycle of expanding debt, rising interest burdens and increased bond issuance. The Treasury's continuous bond sales to cover fiscal deficits have outpaced market absorption capacity, analysts say. Simultaneously, US tech giants have issued massive long-term corporate bonds to build data centers amid the AI boom, competing with Treasury bonds for limited long-term capital and further suppressing demand for US Treasuries. The massive US debt exports have sustained global financial risks by raising financing costs, disrupting cross-border capital flows and eroding market liquidity.

To stabilize the bond market, the US Treasury Department has expanded its long-term Treasury bond repurchase program to boost market liquidity. It raised the single repurchase size from $2 billion to $4 billion. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted that the actual repurchase scale may exceed the newly announced $4 billion, with specific figures subject to market conditions. The repurchase covers 10-year to 30-year Treasury bonds, running from September 9 to November 4, and further plans will be released at the quarterly refinancing meeting in November. The announcement did trigger an immediate drop in US Treasury yields, while Bessent argued that the $40 trillion federal debt poses no special risks and can be resolved through economic growth. However, market analysts point out that the latest repurchase measure is negligible against the $5.5 trillion stock of 20-year and 30-year US Treasuries, and its stabilizing effect remains uncertain and unsustainable, as it cannot address root problems, including persistent fiscal deficits and inflation.