President-elect Donald Trump on Friday asked Scott Bessent, his top campaign fundraiser, to serve as Treasury Department secretary, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to NBC News.
If confirmed, Bessent will oversee fiscal policies for an economy that has faced high inflation in recent years top of mind For many voters who helped send Trump back to the White House in the election earlier this month.
Trump’s pick will be tasked with implementing any tax cuts that the Republican-controlled Congress might pass. And at Trump’s suggestion aggressive tariffs on imports from countries around the world, the new Treasury chief will have to manage relationships with global finance ministers who may choose to retaliate with their own tariffs.
The job at the Cabinet level is to manage federal financial policies set by Congress and the White House. The secretary is also the executive’s top aide to the Federal Reserve, the traditionally autonomous agency that sets monetary policy, such as setting interest rates and managing economic conditions more broadly. This could be a delicate task in the incoming Trump administration, which is likely to put unprecedented political pressure on the central bank.
Trump has been in and out of office exploded Fed Chairman Jerome Powell, whom he nominated in 2017. In an interview with Bloomberg News in October, Trump said the president should not be allowed to make interest rate decisions, but “should be able to make comments about whether interest rates will go up. or lower.”
Powell said he would will not give If Trump asks him to step down, that means he could theoretically remain chairman until his term ends in May 2026. sharp improvement in inflation Compared to two years ago, there is a Fed led by Powell lowered interest rates in its last two meetings as part of a bid to stop high borrowing costs from driving up unemployment unreasonably.
In Trump’s first term, he appointed banker Steven Mnuchin as the nation’s chief financial officer. Mnuchin, who also worked as a financier and producer in Hollywood, broke some ethical rules early in his tenure. goes down into hot water for a short time for shutting down his executive produced Lego Batman.
But his performance in the Treasury Department was more stable than others Top cabinet posts in Trump’s first term. Mnuchin remained in the role for all four years and helped steer the economy through the onset of the pandemic. The $2 trillion CARES Act Towards a two-way transition in March 2020.
The vouchers sent directly to households were the most memorable stimulus package highly appreciated by economists as bridge It helped carry the United States through the worst of the economic turbulence from the pandemic and the shutdown orders designed to combat it.
Mnuchin after Trump’s re-election told CNBC he is unlikely to accept a new Cabinet role but will be “happy to serve from the outside”. Mnuchin created an investment fund after leaving office reported obtained its capital from the sovereign funds of several Gulf states.
Zoe Richards contributed.