> G-20 shytshow: Gathering comes to a close amid a global bond-market selloff, spats over tariffs, public insults and fighting over a group photo

ASHEVILLE, N.C.—Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent arrived here to host global economic officials in the Blue Ridge Mountains, fresh off the breakdown of trade talks with Canada, currency and bond-market interventions, and President Trump’s renewed economic threats against Iran.

Two days later, the G-20 finance ministers’ gathering comes to a close amid a global bond-market selloff, spats over tariffs, public insults and fighting over a group photo. As their meeting concluded on Tuesday, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose to 4.795%, the highest since Trump began his second term.

Bessent joked that Canada might send mini-submarines previously used on an amusement-park ride to attack the U.S. The U.S. defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, posted a photo on social media of two young women at a Canadian cadet training center that was interpreted as mocking their weight and gender. Canadians seethed at Trump’s move to rename Lake Ontario and redoubled their efforts to build closer trade ties with other countries. Other delegates said the spat between close allies was an unnecessary distraction.

“I think that in this world where tensions are numerous, it’s probably no time to add tensions, especially between two historical partners,” French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said.

Meanwhile, Europeans were furious that Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was invited. (Russia hadn’t been invited since it invaded Ukraine in 2022.) Bessent’s threats to impose sanctions on Iran’s trading partners hovered over his meeting with China’s central bank governor Sunday. Bessent later told former Trump adviser Larry Kudlow at a G-20 event that the longtime U.S. adversary is on their side when it comes to certain aspects of the Iran conflict. China is a top trading partner with the Iranian regime.

Before the U.S. attempted to gather the top attendees Monday for a “family photo,” a tradition of such summits, the Europeans blanched. Ministers said they wouldn’t participate if the Russian finance minister was in the photo, people familiar with the matter said. They said they would send their deputies instead if the Russian official was part of the photo, one of the people said.

The Treasury Department didn’t respond to repeated requests for comment about the summit.

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