Donald Trump’s Treasury pick is a billionaire with a simple plan

When Scott Bessent, a billionaire Wall Street mogul, was asked to advise Donald Trump on economic policy, he had a simple ­answer: 3-3-3.

Billionaire Scott Bessent has a simple plan to grow the economy. Picture: David Geraghty.

When Scott Bessent, a billionaire Wall Street mogul, was asked to advise Donald Trump on economic policy, he had a simple ­answer: 3-3-3. Cut the ballooning budget deficit to 3 per cent of GDP within four years, spur 3 per cent GDP growth through deregulation and produce an ­additional three million barrels of oil a day.

For a president-elect who aides say is easily distracted and impatient with long-winded policy papers it was a snappy formulation, which Mr Bessent first floated earlier this year at a conference run by a conservative think tank.

That ability to get Mr Trump’s attention, and Mr Bessent’s staunch public defence of his America First agenda, won out on Friday (Saturday AEDT) when Mr Trump picked him for Treasury secretary after weeks of ­internal fighting.

If confirmed by the Senate, Mr Bessent would be responsible for enacting Mr Trump’s economic agenda, pushing his plans to impose tariffs and cut taxes through congress. He would also oversee US sanctions and head economic negotiations with China.

His nomination runs counter to the view of Elon Musk, who had backed the chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, Howard Lutnick, for the job. Mr Lutnick and Mr Bessent had been at such odds that Mr Trump started interviewing other candidates, according to The Wall Street Journal.

But Mr Bessent was always the odds-on favourite to land the coveted cabinet post in a second Trump administration – long ­before the former president won the election. Mr Trump called the Key Square Capital Management founder “one of the most brilliant men on Wall Street” and praised him in private conversations with friends and advisers.

Mr Trump’s advisers also said that the president-elect, who is known to take appearance into account when hiring, felt the grey-haired, bespectacled Bessent looked the part.

Mr Trump also told friends shortly before the Bessent announcement that he trusted him to execute the administration’s policies more than any of the other contenders.

The president-elect’s inner circle is populated with billionaires and outspoken populists with competing agendas, portending a fractious second term defined by policy disagreements.

A political adviser for Wall Street executives, aware of the ­infighting, sent an emoji of a spinning game-show wheel to ­describe how some in the finance world believed Mr Trump was ­deciding who his next Treasury secretary would be.

Mr Trump’s longtime aides, many of whom grew accustomed to the interpersonal squabbling that was commonplace in his first term, were stunned by the two men’s apparent disdain for one another and the extent to which they were publicly and privately battling over the job.

Last weekend, the infighting between the two businessmen ­became so bitter and public that Mr Trump felt he had to consider other candidates. Mr Trump’s aides reached out to two men that Mr Trump has long had on his radar for key roles in his administration: former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh and ­ApolloGlobal Management CEO Marc Rowan.

By Wednesday, Mr Warsh and Mr Rowan had arrived at Mar-a-Lago to interview for the job. But there were signs from those meetings that neither Mr Rowan nor Mr Warsh was the perfect fit.

A source close to the meetings said Mr Trump felt that the ­Apollo Global CEO wouldn’t see eye-to-eye with the president-elect on his tariff proposals, and that Mr Trump felt similarly about Mr Warsh.

The Times