President-elect Trump in November nominated Scott Bessent to serve as Treasury Department secretary.
“I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States,” he said. “Scott is widely respected as one of the World’s foremost International Investors and Geopolitical and Economic Strategists. Scott’s story is that of the American Dream.”
Trump said that Bessent will assist in achieving the “Golden Age for the United States,” saying that he will focus on improving the economy and preserving the dollar.
“Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda. 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. “Unlike in past Administrations, we will ensure that no Americans will be left behind in the next and Greatest Economic Boom, and Scott will lead that effort for me, and the Great People of the United States of America.”
Bessent, the founder and CEO of global macro investment firm Key Square Group, was a key economic policy adviser and fundraiser for the Trump campaign.
He has been an advocate for economic policies like lower taxes, spending restraint and deregulation that have long made up the core of the Republican Party’s platform, and has also been supportive of Trump’s use of tariffs in trade negotiations.
At an event hosted by the Manhattan Institute earlier this year, Bessent suggested that Trump should pursue a three-point plan of targeting 3% economic growth, reducing the deficit to 3% of U.S. gross domestic product and to boost domestic energy production by 3 million barrels of oil a day.
He has also been supportive of Trump’s plan to reduce regulations on cryptocurrencies and digital assets. Bessent has also argued that mass deportations of illegal immigrants would be less costly than the status quo given the cost of crime and fentanyl deaths.
Bessent previously taught at Yale University. He worked at Soros Fund Management (SFM) from 1991 to 2005, starting as a partner and eventually leading the firm’s London office. After starting his own venture and working at another firm, he returned to SFM from 2011 to 2015 as chief investment officer, before he left to found his investment firm, Key Square Group.
Read more about Scott Bessent from Eric Revell, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Louis Casiano.
