Scott Bessent, former Soros money manager, is Donald Trump’s nominee to head the US Treasury

US President-elect Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will nominate former George Soros money manager Scott Bessent, an advocate for deficit reduction, to be his next treasury secretary.

Trump said online that Bessent “will help me usher in a new Golden Age of the United States.”

Bessent, 62, is the founder of the hedge fund Key Square Capital Management, after working on-and-off at Soros Fund Management since 1991. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the nation’s first gay treasury secretary.

He told Bloomberg in August that he decided to join the Trump campaign in part to attack America’s growing national debt. That would include cuts to government programs and other spending.

“This election cycle is the last chance for the US to grow our way out of this debt mountain without becoming a European-style socialist democracy,” he said at the time.

As of Nov. 8, the US national debt stands at $35.94 trillion, and both the Trump and Biden administrations have added to it. Trump’s policies added $8.4 trillion, while the Biden administration raised $4.3 trillion, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a financial watchdog.

Even as he pushes to reduce the national debt by cutting spending, Bessent has supported the extension provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which Trump signed into law in his first year in office. Estimates from various economic analyzes of the costs of various tax cuts range between about $6 billion and $10 billion over 10 years. Almost all provisions of the law will expire at the end of 2025.

Before becoming a Trump donor and adviser, Bessent contributed to various Democratic causes in the early 2000s, most notably Al Gore’s presidential race. He also worked for Soros, a major supporter of the Democrats. Bessent played a major role in Soros’ operations in London, including his famous 1992 bet against the pound, which brought in huge profits on “Black Wednesday,” when the pound was delinked from the European currency.

Bessent’s choice was no surprise; He was among the names floated for the position of treasury secretary. At an October event for the Detroit Economic Club, Trump called Bessent “one of the top analysts on Wall Street.”

China’s top target prices: Besent

Bessent told Bloomberg in August that he viewed the tariffs as a “one-time price adjustment” and “not a price increase,” and said tariffs imposed during Trump’s second administration would be aimed primarily at China.

He wrote in a Fox News op-ed this week that tariffs are a “useful tool” to achieve foreign policy goals.

“Whether it’s getting allies to spend more on their defense, opening foreign markets to US imports, getting cooperation in ending illegal immigration and preventing fentanyl trafficking, or curbing military violence, tariffs can play an important role.”

Bessent told Fox News earlier this month when asked if the rates would pay for Trump’s massive deportation order that he was working on a program of what he called “financial deportations,” explaining that he would limit the flow of money sent to immigrants. .

Bessent also expressed ideas about how the Trump administration could put pressure on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, whose term ends in May 2026. Last month, Bessent suggested that Trump could name a successor early, and allow that person to serve as a “shadow” to the chair, with the goal of putting aside Powell.

But after the election, Bessen is reported to have backed away from that plan. Powell said that he will not step down if Trump asks him to do so, adding that Trump as president does not have the authority to fire him.

Trump repeatedly attacked Powell during his first term raising the Fed’s key rate in 2017 and 2018. During the 2024 campaign, he said that as president he should have “a say” in the central bank’s interest rate decisions. Presidents traditionally avoid commenting on Fed policies.