Following weeks of speculation about whether President-elect Donald Trump would select a political animal or a wolf of Wall Street to sit at the helm of America’s most important financial and economic institution, he settled on hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as his pick for Treasury Secretary.
Trump announced the pick on Friday evening, calling Bessent “a strong advocate of the America First Agenda.”
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“On the eve of our Great Country’s 250th Anniversary, he will help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States, as we fortify our position as the World’s leading Economy, Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurialism, Destination for Capital, while always, and without question, maintaining the U.S. Dollar as the Reserve Currency of the World,” he said in a statement.
“Unlike in past Administrations, we will ensure that no Americans will be left behind in the next and Greatest Economic Boom,” he added.
Bessent’s name has hovered at the top of the incoming president’s shortlist for some time, raising a few eyebrows given that the Key Square Group founder spent more than a decade working for Democratic megadonor George Soros, even acting as Soros Fund Management’s chief investment officer. When Bessent left to start his own gig in 2015, Soros invested $2 million in the new venture.
But the billionaire CEO has been amenable to the key elements of Trump’s economic agenda—namely, tariffs and tax cuts.
Last week, Bessent wrote in a Fox News op-ed that the incoming administration’s proposed tariffs would help bring in revenue for the federal government, while helping Trump achieve foreign policy objectives by serving as a point of leverage.
Like Trump, he believes that the decades-long trend toward free trade and globalization has allowed China to ascend to prominence as the world’s preeminent producer. “In the interim, we’ve hollowed out our manufacturing base, leaving a trail of devastation through swathes of our country’s heartland,” he wrote.
“The U.S. opened its markets to the world, but China‘s resulting economic growth has only cemented the hold of a despotic regime,” he added. “Tariffs are a means to finally stand up for Americans.”
Bessent expressed confidence that Trump would waste no time in implementing “a growth agenda” when he’s sworn in.
“Tariffs are going to be part of that,” he said during a recent interview with Fox Business reporter Mario Bartiromo. “Alexander Hamilton loved tariffs. He was the original tariff man, and he did it to raise revenues and to protect American industry,” he added. “Donald Trump has added the negotiating leg. And I think given Donald Trump’s credibility on tariffs from Trump 1.0, he will hit the ground running on 2.0 and world leaders and business executives will know he means business.”