US President-elect, Donald Trump has picked hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to serve as Treasury secretary.
The 62-year-old Bessent, founder of the investment firm Key Square Capital Management, was tapped to execute an economic agenda expected to be built around cutting taxes and imposing tariffs.
Trump in a statement on Friday said, “Scott is widely respected as one of the world’s foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists.
“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. He will help reinvigorate the private sector, and help curb the unsustainable path of federal debt.”
The choice for Treasury secretary, a protracted process, was the most anticipated by the US business and finance community, given Trump’s plans to remake global trade through tariffs and extend and potentially expand the raft of tax cuts enacted during his first term.
The head of the Treasury Department will have broad oversight of tax policy, public debt, international finance and sanctions.
Bessent, a Wall Street financier who once worked for George Soros, was an early backer of Trump’s 2024 bid, donating at least $3m to the campaign, according to records from the election commission.
He has called for rolling back government subsidies, deregulating the economy, and raising domestic energy production, and has also defended the use of tariffs.
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