WASHINGTON D.C (VINnews) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that the U.S. Treasury Department’s accelerated buyback of longer-dated government debt could exceed the $4 billion upper limit announced a day earlier.

Speaking in a live interview on CNBC, Bessent said the department plans to “make a market” in longer-dated securities, where yields have surged in recent weeks.

“We’re going to increase the size of the buyback,” Bessent said. “I would note that it could be more than the 4 billion per issue.”

Treasury announced Wednesday that it would at least double the size of its scheduled $2 billion buybacks of longer-dated debt in the 10- to 20-year and 20- to 30-year sectors, effective Sept. 9 through Nov. 4. The move initially sent yields sharply lower, though much of that decline had reversed by Thursday.

Bessent’s remarks prompted a brief easing in yields before they turned higher again. The 30-year bond yield was recently around 5.235%, while the benchmark 10-year yield rose about 5 basis points to 4.704%.

Bessent said the level of yields did not factor into the decision and that the goal is to let market fundamentals drive prices rather than headlines in a thin trading environment.

“All we’re trying to do is get people to focus on the fundamentals and not trade the headlines during a quiet period in a thin market,” he said.

He described liquidity in the 30-year bond as “very poor” and said current yield levels do not reflect underlying economic conditions.

“We have a big toolkit, so we’ll see,” Bessent said. “Part of it is signaling here and to show that we believe that the yields don’t reflect the underlying fundamentals.”

Bessent declined to specify how large the buybacks could become, saying the size would depend on market conditions.

Yields have risen amid concerns over surging U.S. debt and deficits, competition from corporate borrowing linked to artificial intelligence, higher yields from other sovereign issuers such as Japan, and elevated term premiums.

National debt crossed the $40 trillion mark this week. Bessent said he planned to meet with Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to discuss “fiscal consolidation.”

“There’s nothing magic about the 40 trillion number, and we can grow our way out of that,” he said. “Our message to our allies, our trading partners, is that global growth is the way to take care of this mountain of debt.”