 "Trump names hedge-fund investor and Yale prof. Scott Bessent as Treasury Secretary")
President-elect Donald Trump has tapped hedge-fund investor Scott Bessent to be his Treasury Secretary. Trump nominated the man who taught at Yale University for several years on Friday. It is pertinent to note that the job Bessent is appointed for is touted as one of the most powerful roles in Washington. A US treasury secretary has great influence over America’s gigantic economy and financial markets.
Trump’s process of picking his team has so far been largely based on political loyalty to him rather than expertise and experience. However, many were watching who Trump would pick for treasury closely given his plans to reshape global trade through tariffs. The 62-year-old hedge fund investor has been a strong advocate for tax reforms and deregulation.
The challenging road ahead for Bessent
Bessent will be following other financial luminaries who have taken the job before him. This includes former Goldman Sachs executives Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, Trump’s first treasury chief. Janet Yellen, who is the current treasury secretary and the first woman to take the job, has chaired the Federal Reserve and was part of the White House Council of Economic Advisers in the past.
As the 79th US treasury secretary, Bessent is responsible for maintaining the plumbing of the world’s largest economy, from collecting taxes and paying the nation’s bills to managing the $28.6 trillion Treasury debt market and overseeing financial regulation, including handling and preventing market crises. He will essentially be the highest-ranking US economic official.
However, the financier will now face challenges when it comes to managing federal deficits that are forecast to grow by nearly $8 trillion over a decade due to Trump’s plans to extend expiring tax cuts next year and add generous new breaks, including ending taxes on Social Security income.
While defending his new boss, Bessent has argued that Trump’s agenda would unleash stronger economic growth that would grow revenue. Bessent is also supposed to inherit the role carved out by Yellen to lead the G7 nations to provide tens of billions of dollars in economic support for Ukraine and might also take calls to tighten sanctions against Russia and China.
With inputs from Reuters.
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