The ball is in the US Senate's court

His cabinet is in place: Trump makes final appointments

Donald Trump has put together a cabinet in a fast-track process.

(Bild: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

With an advocate of the "America First" economic policy and a mastermind of his political program, US President-elect Donald Trump has completed his future cabinet. Now it is up to the US Senate to wave through his ministerial proposals.

On Friday, Trump nominated hedge fund manager Scott Bessent as Secretary of the Treasury. Brooke Rollins followed on Saturday as Secretary of Agriculture. This means that all the important posts in the future government have been filled.

Billionaire Bessent is in favor of tariffs on foreign imports and tax cuts at home. Trump said of his former economic advisor: "He will help me usher in a new Golden Age for the United States and strengthen our position as the world's leading economy."

Bessent is "widely respected as one of the world's leading international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists" and will also help "revitalize the private sector and put the brakes on the unsustainable path of national debt".

US billionaire Scott Bessent

(Bild: AFP/Drew ANGERER/Getty Images)

"America First" as a lived principle
Bessent defends Trump's "America First" strategy. Just over a week ago, the 62-year-old called tariffs "a way to finally stand up for Americans" in an opinion piece for US broadcaster Fox News. In a radio interview with Trump ally Roger Stone, Bessent explained that Trump wants free trade, but "we haven't had fair trade".

Bessent is head of the Key Square Group. To this day, he lives with his husband and their two children mainly in his home state of South Carolina. He went to the elite Yale University and worked for US billionaire George Soros' investment firm Soros Fund Management before founding his own investment fund in 2000.

Diverse and wide-ranging expertise
If Bessent is confirmed as US Secretary of the Treasury, he will assume oversight of a whole range of areas - from federal finances to banking supervision. The duties of the Treasury Department also include monitoring US sanctions and advising the President on economic issues.

According to Bessent, he has known the Trump family for 30 years. He was one of the few "Wall Street people" who supported Trump. Being a member of his cabinet means "that you have to do what Donald Trump wants you to do".

All posts filled by Trumpists
Less than three weeks after the election, the most important posts in Trump's future cabinet have been allocated. On Saturday, he awarded the Department of Agriculture, which is also responsible for food safety, the country's forests and the food aid program with around 40 million recipients, to 52-year-old Rollins.

Trump's former domestic policy adviser founded the America First Policy Institute, which is dedicated to promoting Trump's agenda. Several of Trump's candidates for cabinet posts have close ties to the organization.

On Friday, Trump announced a few more appointments: Russell Vought is to become White House budget director, as he was in Trump's first term (2017-21). He is one of the main authors of the controversial "Project 2025" program for a comprehensive restructuring of the US government apparatus. Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer has been nominated as Secretary of Labor.

Only green light from the Senate still required
The appointments must be confirmed by the Senate. A simple majority of the senators present at the vote is sufficient. Only a few lower-level positions are still open, such as the heads of the Small Business Administration and the Science and Technology Administration.