After the appointments on the diplomatic and domestic front, Donald Trump is preparing to appoint his Secretary of the Treasury and the teams that will lead his trade policy. But the issue has already degenerated into a battle for influence between the different clans surrounding the American president-elect. One of the challenges will be measuring the influence of Elon Musk, 53, appointed to head a commission in charge of cutting federal spending, and that of Robert Lighthizer, 77, former trade representative during Donald Trump’s first term (2017- 2021). and a firm supporter of tariffs.
Until last week, financier Scott Bessent, founder of Key Square Group, held the rope. Unfortunately, the 62-year-old Republican had two disadvantages: he was a veteran of George Soros, the Hungarian-born financier who caused the fall of the pound in 1992 and is vilified on the right for his progressive political activism; Above all, he declared in an interview with Financial timesin mid-October, that the customs duties promoted by Donald Trump were above all a negotiating weapon. “At the end of the day, [Trump] He is a supporter of free trade. “You have to escalate to de-escalate” he said, which was seen as a lack of ideological alignment with the president-elect.
Elon Musk launched the attack against Bessent on Saturday, November 16, defending the candidacy of the head of Donald Trump’s transition team, Howard Lutnick, 63, head of the financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald: “My view is that Bessent is the business-as-usual option, while Howard Lutnick would bring about real change. “The status quo is bankrupting America, so we have to change things somehow.”attacked Elon Musk on the social network
Cacophony
Amid this cacophony, Donald Trump is preparing, according to New York Timesto conduct additional interviews. In the race would be Kevin Warsh, 54, a former central banker, married to an heir granddaughter of cosmetics queen Estée Lauder; Robert Lighthizer himself; Marc Rowan, 62, director of the Apollo Global Management fund; and Tennessee Senator Bill Hagerty, a fairly traditional Republican who campaigned for Mitt Romney and John McCain, a former ambassador to Japan but who embraced Trumpism. The final election will show how seriously we must take Donald Trump’s threats of a widespread trade war, as well as his desire to drastically reduce public spending, while Joe Biden left deficits at historic records, excluding Covid-19.
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