Scott Bessent defended tariffs and argued for tax-cut extensions during his confirmation hearing as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary in the Senate Finance Committee.No Democrats committed to support him on Thursday,

The United States should keep oversight of potential problems in the U.S. bond market, President-elect Donald Trump's Treasury Secretary pick Scott Bessent told Congress on Thursday, referring to Wall Street billionaire Howard Lutnick's plan to clear Treasury futures through a UK firm.

Scott Bessent, a South Carolina billionaire hedge fund manager, wasted no time getting to the crux of his confirmation hearing: the expiring Trump tax cuts. “This is the single most important economic issue of the day,” Bessent told the committee.