President-elect Donald Trump has begun announcing his Cabinet picks for his second term, but is yet to reveal his choice for the key position of Secretary of the Treasury.
The role involves serving as the principal adviser to the president on economic and fiscal policy.
The front-runners until now had been believed to be billionaire Wall Street firm CEO Howard Lutnick and hedge fund manager Scott Bessent.
However, The New York Times reported on Sunday that Trump is having second thoughts about the two candidates and is now also considering former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh and another Wall Street billionaire Marc Rowan.
The president-elect has taken notably longer to select his pick for this role compared with other key Cabinet positions, with the selection process having reportedly been complicated by internal jockeying.
This is what you need to know about these four possible candidates.
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Scott Bessent
Bessent is a hedge fund manager and the founder, CEO and chief investment officer of the investment firm Key Square Group.
He acted as an economic adviser to Trump’s presidential campaign, and was one of the president-elect’s most successful fundraisers, according to Bloomberg Businessweek.
Bessent has been a longtime supporter of Trump and recently railed against “the failure of Bidenomics” in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal.
He is under consideration for the role, according to The New York Times.
One possible thing that could work against him is his long-term business relationship with billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, who has become a bogeyman figure among the far-right.
Billionaire Elon Musk, who is one of Trump’s most prominent supporters, described Bessent as the “business-as-usual choice” in a post on X while expressing support for Lutnick.
Howard Lutnick
Lutnick is the billionaire CEO of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald and is also serving as the co-chair of Trump’s transition team.
Lutnick has won the support of Musk, who described him as the candidate to “actually enact change.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s pick to be Health and Human Services secretary, has also thrown his support behind him.
Lutnick has been a vocal supporter of tariffs, which lines up with Trump’s populist economic views and more protectionist stance.
However, The New York Times reported that Lutnick has “gotten on Mr. Trump’s nerves lately” and that the president-elect has privately expressed irritation about Lutnick “hanging around him too much” and “manipulating the transition process for his own ends.”
Kevin Warsh
Warsh, a former Federal Reserve governor who once served as an economic-policy adviser to President George W. Bush, has emerged as a new contender for the role.
Trump has reportedly said behind the scenes that he thinks Warsh is smart and handsome, per The New York Times.
He had considered Warsh for the role of Federal Reserve chairman back in 2017, but ultimately selected Jerome H. Powell.
Trump has since expressed regret for not choosing Warsh, telling him in a 2020 news conference that he wished the candidate had been more “forceful” in lobbying for the job and that he would have been “very happy” with him.
The president-elect’s team had reportedly been suggesting Warsh as a candidate to replace Powell when his term ends in 2026.
Marc Rowan
Rowan, the chief executive and a co-founder of Apollo Global Management, is also now in the running, according to The New York Times.
Trump has reportedly told people close to him that he is very impressed with billionaire Rowan.
Rowan is not actively lobbying for the job but confirmed that he is interested after Trump’s team reached out, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Rowan has said he believes that the country’s financial situation is fixable but will require “wholesale change” and not “small amounts of tinkering.”