Trump Taps Gay Billionaire Scott Bessent to Lead Treasury
Wall Street analysts believe Bessent will encourage Trump to roll back his aggressive plans for imposing tariffs on imported goods.
Donald Trump has tapped Scott Bessent to serve as the next Treasury Secretary.
The 62-year-old gay billionaire served as an economic policy adviser to Trump during the most recent presidential campaign and is the founder of hedge fund Key Square Capital Management. Prior to that, he was the chief investment officer at Soros Fund Management, a hedge fund started by Democratic donor George Soros.
A Yale graduate, Bessent lives with his husband, John Freeman, in a restored Greek Revival mansion in Charleston, South Carolina. They have two sons, whom they conceived via surrogacy, according to USA Today. He is a member of the French Huguenot Church of Charleston, where his family were founding members in the 1680s.
If approved, Bessent will become the first LGBTQ cabinet secretary to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a Republican administration.
Current Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was the first gay cabinet member to be confirmed by the Senate, while Richard Grenell, the former Acting Director of National Intelligence of the United States, was the first gay person appointed to a cabinet-level position during Trump’s first administration.
“Scott has long been a strong advocate of the America First Agenda,” President-elect Trump said in a statement. “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.”
As Treasury Secretary, Bessent will advise Trump on economic and fiscal matters, such as spending and taxes. In that role, Bessent will face pressure to address the federal debt limit and the expiring provisions of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts package.
Financial markets rallied in response to the announcement. Bessent is viewed by many strategists as a “safe pair of hands” and a more moderate pick who can help shepherd through the bulk of Trump’s economic priorities while pushing for a “softer” approach to tariffs, which Trump touted as a key part of his agenda on the campaign trail.
As reported by CNBC, Trump had previously pledged to impose 60% tariffs on goods from China, and 10% tariffs on goods from other countries.
Bessent has defended tariffs as a “useful tool for achieving the president’s foreign policy objectives” but has also called for them to be “layered in” gradually in the hope of avoiding fiscal deficits and leading to a rise in inflation.
Bessent has previously pushed for deregulation and tax cuts while speaking of the importance of “addressing the debt burden” of the United States — which he, like many conservatives, blames on “reckless spending” by the Biden administration. He has advocated for a “3-3-3” plan that would cut the deficit to 3% by 2028 (primarily by drastically reducing government spending), achieve 3% economic growth, and produce 3 million new barrels of oil per day.
The choice of Bessent also shows the limitations of X CEO Elon Musk’s influence, as the billionaire tech mogul previously came out in favor of Howard Lutnick to lead the Treasury Department. Musk called Bessent “a business-as-usual choice” in an X post advocating Lutnick, who instead has been tapped to be the next Commerce Secretary.
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