Trump picks prominent investor for treasury secretary

President-elect Donald Trump says he has chosen prominent investor Scott Bessent as US Treasury secretary, a key cabinet position with vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs. "I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States," Trump said in a statement released on Truth Social on Friday. "Scott is widely respected as one of the World's foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists." The announcement was followed by news family medicine doctor and Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat would be Trump's surgeon general, again showing preference for a television personality as the face of his incoming administration. "Dr Nesheiwat is a fierce advocate and strong communicator for preventive medicine and public health," Trump said in a statement. "She is committed to ensuring that Americans have access to affordable, quality health care, and believes in empowering individuals to take charge of their health to live longer, healthier lives." She treated patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, tended to victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Joplin tornadoes, and has worked for the Samaritan's Purse disaster relief organisation providing care in Morocco, Haiti and Poland, Trump said. Many Americans know her as a Fox News contributor who has discussed issues such as the mpox strain, the effects of alcohol and drug use, or natural disaster relief. As of Trump's announcement, she was no longer a Fox News contributor, a spokesperson for the cable network said. Nesheiwat's appointment will require Senate confirmation. Wall Street had been closely watching who Trump would pick as Treasury secretary, especially given his plans to remake global trade through tariffs and extend and potentially expand the raft of tax cuts enacted during his first term. Bessent, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal. The market's surge after Trump's election victory, he wrote, signalled investor expectations of "higher growth, lower volatility and inflation, and a revitalised economy for all Americans". As the 79th Treasury secretary, Bessent will essentially be the highest-ranking US economic official, responsible for maintaining the plumbing of the world's largest economy - from collecting taxes and paying the nation's bills to managing the $US28.6 trillion ($A44 trillion) Treasury debt market and overseeing financial regulation, including handling and preventing market crises. The Treasury boss also runs US financial sanctions policy, oversees the US-led International Monetary Fund, World Bank and other international financial institutions, and manages national security screenings of foreign investments in the US. Bessent will face challenges, including safely managing federal deficits that are forecast to grow by almost $US8 trillion across a decade due to Trump's plans to extend expiring tax cuts in 2025 and add generous new breaks, including ending taxes on social security income. Without offsetting revenues, this new debt would add to an unsustainable fiscal trajectory already forecast to balloon US debt by $US22 trillion through 2033. Managing debt increases this large without market indigestion will be a challenge, although Bessent has argued Trump's agenda will unleash stronger economic growth that will grow revenue and shore up market confidence. Bessent, 62, worked for noted short seller Jim Chanos in the late 1980s and then joined Soros Fund Management, the famed macroeconomic investment firm of billionaire George Soros. He soon helped Soros and top deputy Stanley Druckenmiller on their most famous trade - shorting the British pound in 1992 and earning the firm more than $US1 billion. In 2015, Bessent raised $US4.5 billion, including $US2 billion from Soros, to launch Key Square Group, a hedge fund firm that bets on macroeconomic trends. Key Square's main fund gained about 31 per cent in 2022, according to media reports, but firm assets have declined to approximately $US577 million as of December 2023, according to a regulatory filing.