The Financial Post reports in its Tuesday edition that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent came to office blasting his predecessor for trying to re-engineer the world's largest bond market. A Bloomberg dispatch to the Post says that last week, he did it himself. By buying back a swath of long-term U.S. debt -- calling it a "Treasury twist" -- which will require selling more short-dated securities, yields on the long bonds dropped sharply after the plan was announced. Then they climbed straight back up. Mr. Bessent's favoured 10-year benchmark closed the week at 4.73 per cent, near the highest since he took office. All of this suggests that the Treasury chief's drive to get borrowing costs down, especially with November's midterm election looming, is running into forces beyond his control. That includes record debt levels not just in the U.S., which have surpassed $40-trillion (U.S.), but across developed nations. There's a surge in corporate issuance too, led by the artificial-intelligence boom. Inflation has jumped since President Donald Trump started a war with Iran, and confusion over Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh's strategy is adding to investor concerns. Many doubt Mr. Bessent has the firepower to control bond yields.