- Bessent makes Senate debut as Trump's economic point man
- Hedge fund manager a vocal advocate for Trump's tariff agenda
- Bessent says US needs stronger sanctions on Russian oil
- High debt curbs US crisis-fighting fiscal capacity, Bessent says
- Bessent vows to maintain dollar reserve currency status
WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (Reuters) -
President-elect Donald Trump's pick for Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said on Thursday that the dollar should remain the world's reserve currency, the Federal Reserve should stay independent and that he is ready to impose tougher sanctions on Russia's oil sector.
Bessent, testifying at a Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing, underscored an urgent need to extend Trump's 2017 individual tax cuts, saying that allowing them to expire at the end of this year would unleash a $4 trillion tax hike that could crush the U.S. economy.
"If we do not renew and extend, then we will be facing an economic calamity," Bessent said. "We will see a gigantic middle class tax increase."
Bessent,
a hedge fund manager and founder of Key Square Capital Management, voiced support for Trump's plans to impose
steep tariffs, saying they would combat
unfair trade practices, raise revenues and increase U.S. negotiating leverage, including on non-trade issues.
In
prepared remarks he said pro-growth tax, investment, trade and energy policies would usher in a "a new economic golden age" of prosperity.
Bessent said that U.S. sanctions against
Russia's oil sector have been too weak, partly because the Biden administration was too concerned about increasing prices at the same time it was constraining U.S. oil output. Increased U.S. oil production would allow for tougher sanctions on Russian oil majors, he said.
"I think if any officials in the Russian Federation are watching this confirmation hearing, they should know that if I'm confirmed, and if President Trump requests as part of his strategy to end the Ukraine war, that I will be 100% on board with taking sanctions up - especially on the Russian oil majors - to levels that would bring the Russian Federation to the table," Bessent said.
He also had harsh words for China, calling it "the most imbalanced, unbalanced economy in the history of the world," one that was trying to export its way out of a "severe recession/depression" and the U.S. could not allow China to flood U.S. or world markets with cheap goods.
If confirmed by the Senate, Bessent would be the first openly gay Treasury secretary and confirmed cabinet member of a Republican administration. The South Carolina native's husband, former New York City prosecutor John Freeman, and their two children, Cole and Caroline, sat behind him.
In a hearing marked by few testy exchanges, Bessent coolly fielded questions ranging from child tax credits to tariff impacts on farmers and did not stray from answers consistent with previous Republican Treasury nominees, but without contradicting Trump's policy plans.
He said that U.S. spending on President Joe Biden's clean energy tax credit was "wildly out of control" and that high deficits in recent years were due to a "spending problem." Asked if a 100% tax credit for business research and development needed to be restored, he said his "inclination" would be to support that.
