After wasting no time in naming a number of right-wing loyalists to his cabinet, President-elect Donald Trump is still debating who will be his Treasury Secretary, The New York Times reported Sunday.
Trump was originally expected to pick either Wall Street mogul Howard Lutnick or hedge fund manager Scott Bessent, but is now reportedly having second thoughts. Several other candidates have entered the mix, including former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh, billionaire Marc Rowan, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., and former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
The battle for the position has been a “knife-fight,” an anonymous source told The Times. Candidates are expected to meet at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence this week.
Trump is prioritizing a candidate who will commit to raising tariffs, sources told the Financial Times. A self-described “tariff-man,” the president-elect ran his campaign on the promise of dramatically raising tariffs on goods from China and other countries. He has claimed import duties would boost U.S. manufacturing, create jobs and lower prices.
Despite Trump’s claims, experts have warned that his economic plans would drive up consumer prices and increase inflation.
On Sunday, billionaire Elon Musk, who was recently named by Trump to lead a new federal agency called the Department of Government Efficiency, threw his support behind Lutnick.
“My view fwiw is that Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change. Business-as-usual is driving America bankrupt, so we need change one way or another,” he wrote on X.
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