Here’s What Trump’s Treasury Secretary Should Prioritize
Scott Bessent must focus on safeguarding faith in the dollar at a time of massive debt and deficits.
Scott Bessent, founder of Key Square Group LP, is heading to Treasury.
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg
The secretary of the US Treasury Department is basically the country’s chief financial officer. As the president’s primary economic adviser, the Treasury secretary is responsible for recommending and carrying out fiscal policy, not least of which is managing public debt. One might think that this latter task is the most important at a time of trillion-dollar budget deficits and rising public debt that now totals $36 trillion. I would suggest one other that is even more crucial: making crystal clear that a strong dollar remains in the best interests of the US.
This won’t be an easy task for hedge fund executive Scott Bessent, whom President-elect Donald Trump nominated as the next secretary of the Treasury, given the unconventional ideas on America’s currency spouted by the next occupant of the Oval Office. In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek in June, Trump said that the US has a “big currency problem,” adding that he keeps hearing from manufacturers that “nobody wants to buy our product because it’s too expensive” and other countries try to keep their currencies “weak all the time” because it gives them an edge in exports.