President-elect Donald Trump on Friday asked Scott Bessent, his campaign’s top fundraiser, to become Treasury secretary, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News. .
If confirmed, Mr. Bessent will lead fiscal policy for an economy that has weathered high inflation in recent years, an issue that many voters who helped return Mr. Trump to the White House in the election earlier this month remains a major concern.
Trump’s pick will be tasked with implementing any tax cuts sought by the Republican-controlled Congress. And with President Trump proposing to impose aggressive tariffs on imports from countries around the world, the new Treasury secretary will likely have to deal with global finance ministers who could retaliate with their own tariffs. Relationships will need to be managed.
The Cabinet-level job is to steer federal fiscal policy set by Congress and the White House. He is also the executive branch’s top intermediary with the Federal Reserve, a traditionally autonomous institution that makes monetary policy decisions such as setting interest rates and steering economic conditions at a broad level. This could be a delicate task for the incoming Trump administration and is likely to put unprecedented political pressure on the central bank.
Donald Trump vowed to take action on a range of issues on his first day in office.
Both while in office and out of office, President Trump has fiercely criticized Jerome Powell, the Fed chairman he appointed in 2017. In an October interview with Bloomberg News, Trump said that while Trump shouldn’t be allowed to dictate interest rates, “the president should be able to dictate them.” Please comment on whether interest rates should be raised or lowered. ”
Powell has said he would not resign if asked to resign by Trump, and could theoretically remain chairman until his term ends in May 2026. The Fed, led by Powell, cut interest rates after inflation improved dramatically compared to two years ago. It has lowered interest rates in the past two meetings as part of a bid to prevent high borrowing costs from unduly raising unemployment.
During President Trump’s first term, he selected banker Steven Mnuchin to be the nation’s chief financial officer. Mnuchin, who has dabbled in Hollywood as an investor and producer, stumbled over several ethics rules early in his term and briefly found himself in trouble after pulling the plug on Lego Batman, for which he was an executive producer. I was made to stand.
But his tenure at the Treasury has been more stable than other senior Cabinet posts during President Trump’s first term. Mnuchin remained in the job for all four years, helping push the $2 trillion CARES Act toward bipartisan passage in March 2020 and helping steer the economy through the onset of the pandemic.
The most memorable stimulus package, which included checks sent directly to households, was hailed by economists as a bridge to help the U.S. weather the worst economic disruption caused by the pandemic and shutdown orders to combat it. It was done.
After Trump’s reelection, Mnuchin told CNBC that he was unlikely to accept a new Cabinet role, but that he would be “happy to take on an outside role.” After leaving office, Secretary Mnuchin reportedly launched an investment fund that received funding from Gulf state sovereign wealth funds.
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