U.S. President-elect Donald Trump intends to narrow the shortlist of candidates for treasury secretary this week and is leaning toward someone with a Wall Street pedigree for the job, according to Bloomberg on Monday.
"Names that have been floated for the Treasury role include Howard Lutnick, chief executive officer of Cantor Fitzgerald LP, hedge-fund billionaire John Paulson, former George Soros money manager Scott Bessent and Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, a former Carlyle Group Inc. executive," said the report.
Bessent met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Florida, on Friday, but the meeting was not an interview for Treasury, said the report, adding that "Trump's transition planning is off to a quick start after the Republican notched a decisive win over Vice President Kamala Harris last week, allowing the president-elect to immediately pivot to selecting policy and personnel for his second White House stint."
Trump's Wall Street allies are urging him to appoint someone with deep finance industry knowledge to serve as treasury secretary, advice that the president-elect's team has indicated he'll follow, it noted. A wide swath of tax breaks expire next year, giving Trump the opportunity to broadly shape fiscal policy as he did with his 2017 tax cuts.