US Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh will seek to soothe investors’ nerves in the coming week as signs of economic strain mount and policymakers prepare to gather at their annual Jackson Hole symposium. US public debt hit a record $40tn this week and yields on the country’s long-dated bonds hit a 19-year high. Reciprocal tariffs Donald Trump announced on Canada over the weekend are due to come into force within weeks and Washington is threatening Tehran with an “economic D-Day”, both of which could result in fresh economic blows.

Warsh and Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who was also appointed by Trump, are facing mounting pressure over their approach to communicating economic policy. Some investors said that Bessent’s abrupt announcement of bond buybacks this week reduced the credibility of the Treasury’s guidance. And Warsh has stripped back the US central bank’s communications with investors, drastically reducing rate-setters’ guidance on what to expect from US interest rates.

Warsh will address central bankers and economists at the Kansas City Fed’s Jackson Hole gathering on Friday for the first time as Fed chair, where he is expected to use his speech to set out the framework behind his pared-back style. In a poll of academic economists conducted for the FT by the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, a majority said they were increasingly concerned that the Fed would take longer to bring inflation back under control and some criticised Warsh and Bessent’s approach to communications.