Divisions among US president-elect Donald Trump’s advisers over who will get key economic roles in the new administration dominated coverage of the transition on Monday, highlighting concern over tariffs, a central issue in US-China relations.
The leading contenders for US treasury secretary include billionaire Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick and hedge-fund manager Scott Bessent. However, names like former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh and Marc Rowan, another billionaire financier, have also been floated of late.
Meanwhile, an influential think tank has endorsed Trump’s former trade chief Robert Lighthizer for the job, following earlier speculation that Lighthizer had been tapped to reprise his role as US trade representative.
Trump is expected to meet the new candidates at his private Florida mansion Mar-a-Lago this week as his advisers and aides push their own favourites.
Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and CEO of Tesla, has conferred with Trump often since he won the presidential election, wrote on social media on Friday: “Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnikwill actually enact change.”
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