Finance & economics | 1500 race

What Scott Bessent’s appointment means for the Trump administration

The president-elect’s nominee for treasury secretary faces a gruelling job

Scott Bessent speaks at the National Conservative Conference in Washington, DC.
Photograph: Alamy
|Washington, DC

At last, white smoke has emerged from Mar-a-Lago. Two and a half weeks after the election and more than a week since it first seemed as if an announcement about a choice of treasury secretary was coming, Donald Trump has finally made his decision. On November 22nd the campaign said that Scott Bessent, a hedge-fund titan, would command 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue. Both the appointment of Mr Bessent, and the manner in which he was picked, offer clues about economic policy during a second Trump term.

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