Trump taps Scott Bessent for high-stakes Treasury chief: What to know

President-elect Trump selected billionaire investor Scott Bessent to lead the Treasury Department on Friday as the former president continues to call for an increase in tariffs and major shifts in the country’s global trade operations.

Bessent raked in profits as the founder of hedge fund Key Square Group, and he helped finance Trump’s second campaign after decades of supporting Democratic presidential candidates.

“As a lifelong Champion of Main Street America and American Industry, Scott will support my Policies that will drive U.S. Competitiveness, and stop unfair Trade imbalances, work to create an Economy that places Growth at the forefront, especially through our coming World Energy Dominance,” Trump wrote in his announcement.

Democrat turned Trump supporter

Bessent has ties to the Democratic Party and donated to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Al Gore, who he hosted a fundraiser for in the 2000s. 

Before founding his own firm, Bessent worked for billionaire George Soros as his chief investment officer for over a decade. Soros, one of the most high profile Democratic donors, has drawn the ire of Trump and his allies over the years, with some Republicans suggesting he funded college campus protests against the Israel-Gaza war earlier this year.

Soros is a strong advocate for Democratic causes including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Planned Parenthood and the Brennan Center according to the National Interest.

Regardless, Bessent has been in the Trump circle's orbit for years and is close to Vice President-elect JD Vance, according to reporting from the Wall Street Journal.

Background as an investor

Bessent’s career skyrocketed under Soros as he helped his London investment firm bet against the British pound in 1992, resulting in a $1 billion payout for the firm, Reuters reported. 

Years later he eventually garnered $4.5 million to launch his own hedge fund that monitors global macroeconomics. Throughout his finance career, he also built close relationships with Trump’s brother Robert Trump, an investor, and remained a confidante for the family.

Before the Friday announcement, a source told The Hill that Bessent's experience in bond and currency markets would be beneficial if he were to join Trump's administration.

Economic adviser to Trump campaign

Trump spoke about the state of economic affairs frequently throughout the campaign, especially tax cuts and tariff increases. Throughout the campaign cycle, Bessent regulary appeared on talk shows to tout the president-elect's economic agenda.

The Treasury secretary pick is a supporter of the tax cuts implemented during Trump’s first administration and will likely prioritize deregulating the country’s markets if confirmed by the Senate.

Bessent impressed the former president with his proposal to spark 3 percent growth through a reduced budget deficit equal to 3 percent of gross domestic product and 3 million additional barrels a day of oil production, according to the Associated Press. 

However, some supporters of Trump fear the American businessman is weak on tariffs. Trump did not mention tariffs at all in his announcement about Bessent.

Support of tariffs

Trump declared an all out war on products not sourced or manufactured in the U.S. throughout his bid for the White House.

The Republican proposed a general tariff of 10 to 20 percent on all imported goods and 60 percent tariff on China, both of which Bessent would be charged with overseeing. Bessent said that tariffs can be used as a tool in place of sanctions to refine trade agreements.

“I think that tariffs in a way can be regarded as an economic sanction without a sanction,” he told Bloomberg in August according to the AP. 

“If you don’t like Chinese economic policy, flooding the market with over production, you could put a sanction on them, or a tariff. Its also an answer to currency manipulation,” he said at the time.

First openly gay Treasury chief

If confirmed, Bessent would make history as the first Senate-confirmed openly LGBTQ cabinet member in a Republican administration. Bessent is married to John Freeman, a former New York City prosecutor.

He would follow in the steps of Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg who became the first openly LGBTQ Senate-confirmed Cabinet member in 2021.

The year prior, Trump appointed Richard Grenell, who is openly gay, to serve as acting director of national intelligence in a role that did not require Senate confirmation.