What to know about Scott Bessent, Trump's Treasury pick
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Scott Bessent, founder and chief executive officer of Key Square Group LP, speaks during an interview during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 16, 2024. Photo: Vincent Alban/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President-elect Trump will nominate Scott Bessent, a financier focused on global macroeconomics, as his Treasury secretary, which would make him the incoming administration's top economic official.
Why it matters: Bessent would bring to Treasury deep knowledge of bond and currency markets and a close relationship with Trump — as well as a surprising connection to hedge fund manager George Soros, mega-donor to liberal causes and bogeyman to the political right.
Zoom in: Bessent, 62, founded hedge fund Key Square Capital Management. Before that, he spent most of his career at Soros Capital Management, including as chief investment officer from 2011 to 2015.
- Bessent has been an avid fundraiser for Trump and a defender of the president-elect in media appearances.
- Trump has threatened to impose high tariffs on all U.S. imports. Some economists have warned that such aggressive tariffs could reignite inflation.
In recent interviews, Bessent has tried to play down Trump's trade threats.
- "The idea that he would recreate an affordability crisis is absurd," Bessent told Axios' Mike Allen in a phone interview this earlier this month.
- Bessent told Axios that Trump "regards himself as the mayor of 330 million Americans, and he wants them to do great, and have a great four years."
- He also told the Financial Times last month that the tariffs were a starting point for negotiations with trading partners.
- "My general view is that at the end of the day, he's a free trader," Bessent told the FT.
The intrigue: Bessent has been critical of the Federal Reserve and will likely be a key voice as Trump selects his appointees to run the central bank.
- Last month, he put forth a novel and unorthodox idea to name a "shadow Fed chair" who would be heir apparent to Jerome Powell when Powell's term is up in 2026. The idea was criticized for the potential impact on financial markets.
- Bessent has since backtracked on this idea. Speaking on CNBC earlier this month in the aftermath of the election, he clarified that he thinks the incoming Trump administration "should nominate the next Federal Reserve chair early."
- Powell, for his part, says he won't resign and that Trump can't demote Fed officials either.
What to watch: Bessent would be a key salesman for Trump's fiscal agenda on Capitol Hill at a pivotal time. A slew of Trump-era tax cuts will expire next year, even as Trump pledged a range of further tax cuts on the campaign trail.
- Bessent would also take charge of economic relations between the U.S. and the rest of the world.
- His would-be predecessor, Janet Yellen, imposed sanctions on Russia aimed at curbing the war in Ukraine.
- U.S.-China relations remain frosty, though Yellen established a so-called "Financial Working Group" with China — opening up channels between the two sides in the event of global market stress.
- The relationship between Bessent and Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick will also be an open question - they have differing views on tariffs and were late rivals for the Treasury post.
Bessent is married to John Freeman, a former prosecutor, and they have two children. If confirmed, Bessent would be the first openly gay Treasury secretary. They live primarily in Charleston, S.C., and preserve historic mansions, per the Wall Street Journal.
Go deeper: Axios interview: Treasury frontrunner Scott Bessent, Wall Street's "quiet killer"
