President-elect Trump on Friday selected Scott Bessent, the billionaire investor who continues to push for higher tariffs and a major shift in global trade activity, to be his Treasury secretary.
Mr. Bessent made a profit as the founder of the hedge fund Key Square Group, which helped finance Mr. Trump's second campaign after decades of supporting Democratic presidential candidates.
“As a lifelong champion of Main Street America and American industry, Scott has promoted U.S. competitiveness, stopped unfair trade imbalances, and created an economy that puts growth at the forefront, especially through the coming global energy domination. I will support my policies that are committed to creativity,” Trump wrote in a statement.
Democrats have turned to Trump supporters
Bessent has ties to the Democratic Party and has donated to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Al Gore, and hosted a fundraiser for them in the 2000s.
Before founding his own company, Bessent worked for more than a decade as chief investment officer for billionaire George Soros. Mr. Soros is one of the most high-profile Democratic donors and has long drawn the ire of Mr. Trump and his allies, with some Republicans criticizing Mr. Soros's support for Israel and Gaza earlier this year. It has been suggested that he funded campus protests against the war.
According to , Soros is a strong supporter of democratic movements such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Planned Parenthood, and the Brennan Center. national interest.
In any case, Bessent has been involved in Trump's orbit for years and is reportedly close to Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. wall street journal.
Career as an investor
Mr. Bessent's career skyrocketed under Soros, and in 1992 he helped a London investment firm bet on the British pound, resulting in a $1 billion payout for the firm. Reuters reported.
A few years later, he eventually raised $4.5 million to start his own hedge fund to monitor the world's macroeconomy. Throughout his career in finance, he also developed a close relationship with Trump's brother, investor Robert Trump, and remained a close family friend.
Before Friday's announcement, sources told The Hill that Bessent's experience in bond and currency markets would be an asset if he joined the Trump administration.
Trump campaign economic advisor
During the campaign, Mr. Trump spoke frequently about the economic situation, particularly tax cuts and tariff increases. During the campaign, Bessent regularly appeared on talk shows to promote the president-elect's economic policies.
The Treasury secretary nominee is a supporter of tax cuts implemented during Trump's first administration and is likely to prioritize deregulation of the domestic market if confirmed by the Senate.
Bessent impressed the former president with a proposal to cut the budget deficit by 3% of gross domestic product and boost growth by 3% through additional oil production of 3 million barrels a day, according to the Associated Press. .
But some Trump supporters worry that the American businessman is vulnerable to tariffs. President Trump made no mention of tariffs in his announcement about Bessent.
Fee support
During his tenure in the White House, President Trump declared an all-out war on products not sourced or manufactured in the United States.
Republicans have proposed a general tariff of 10% to 20% on all imports and a 60% tariff on China, both of which Mr. Bessent would be responsible for overseeing. Bessent said tariffs can be used as an alternative to sanctions to improve trade agreements.
“I think tariffs can be considered, in a sense, economic sanctions without sanctions,” he told Bloomberg in August, according to the Associated Press.
“If you don't like China's economic policy of flooding the market with excess production, you can impose sanctions and tariffs on China. That's also the answer to currency manipulation,” he said at the time.
First openly gay Treasury secretary
If confirmed, Bessent would make history as the first openly LGBTQ Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate in a Republican administration. Bessent is married to former New York City prosecutor John Freeman.
He will follow in the footsteps of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who in 2021 became the first openly LGBTQ Cabinet member to be recognized by the Senate.
The year before, President Trump nominated Richard Grenell, an openly gay man, to serve as acting director of national intelligence without requiring Senate confirmation.
