They’ve been called a “team of rivals” – an eclectic group of advisers with varying backgrounds and perspectives, each playing a distinctive role in trying to shape President Donald Trump’s economic agenda.
Start with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a former hedge fund manager, who projects a steady “adult in the room” presence that can calm markets when he speaks publicly. As President Trump’s lead trade negotiator since early April, he’s first among equals.
Then there’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, former CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald financial services and an old friend of the president’s. He’s been “cheerleader in chief” for Mr. Trump’s economic policies, although some controversial remarks led to a pulling back of his media appearances. Still, he remains a key player in the Trump orbit.
Why We Wrote This
Having strong, disparate voices in a room can sharpen a plan, or muddle it. Trump economic advisers range from mainstream allies to fiercely devoted friends to MAGA stalwarts. All share a strong loyalty to the president – even when it means defending controversial policies.
Another prominent figure is special trade adviser Peter Navarro, a veteran of the first Trump term and an abrasive, populist proponent of tariffs – especially on China. He also wins on loyalty points: Last year, he spent four months in prison for refusing to testify before Congress about the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol. Within hours of his release, he addressed the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
These three men in many ways represent the wide spectrum of Trump-world economic actors, from mainstream allies to fiercely devoted friends to MAGA stalwarts. While they may disagree on details, what they share is an unquestioned loyalty to the president – even when it means defending policies that have been criticized by mainstream economists on both the right and the left.
At this pivotal moment, it’s Treasury Secretary Bessent who commands the most attention and respect, both among legislators and in the private sector. And he’s serving a public role that appears sorely needed amid the turmoil of Mr. Trump’s first four months back in office, navigating a global trade war launched by the president himself.
After Walmart, the United States’ largest retailer, warned last week of price increases because tariffs are “too high,” Mr. Trump posted online that Walmart and China should “EAT THE TARIFFS,” and “not charge valued customers ANYTHING.” The comment was aimed right at the Trump electorate, many of whom shop at Walmart and cited inflation as a top motivator for their vote last November. It was Mr. Bessent who called the company’s CEO to smooth the waters.
On Sunday talk shows, Mr. Bessent delivered a more nuanced message than Mr. Trump’s Truth Social blast. “Walmart will be absorbing some of the tariffs. Some may get passed on to consumers,” he told CNN.
Mr. Bessent also played down Friday’s decision by Moody’s to downgrade the U.S. credit rating, which could lead to higher interest rates. On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” he called the move a “lagging indicator,” effectively blaming the Biden administration’s spending policies.
The Treasury secretary’s ability to project calm while walking a verbal tightrope is emblematic of the president’s more mainstream advisers. That cohort includes Kevin Hassett, a respected economist serving as director of Mr. Trump’s National Economic Council. In the first term, he chaired the Council of Economic Advisers, effectively a think tank within the White House.
Still, the degree to which Mr. Trump actually listens to his advisers on economic policy is open to debate. The president, after all, is a businessman with strongly held views of his own. For decades, he has advocated for tariffs, which he sees as a way to reduce trade deficits, raise government revenue, reindustrialize the U.S., and wield leverage in trade negotiations. He reportedly directed the tariff rates himself on nearly every country in his “Liberation Day” announcement on April 2.
Mr. Trump has also been badgering the Federal Reserve to bring down interest rates. A week ago, he ordered drug companies to cut prices. And he appears in public frequently with CEOs, touting business deals – as he did on last week’s tour of Gulf Arab countries.
Beyond policy debates, there’s a through line that unites Mr. Trump’s team: loyalty to the boss.
That loyalty sometimes entails “a willingness to push policies that nearly all academic economists from the left and the right tend to advise against,” such as tariffs and “a non-independent Federal Reserve,” writes Raymond Robertson, director of the Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics, and Public Policy at Texas A&M University, in an email.
For Mr. Navarro, support for aggressive use of tariffs is more than a “willingness” – it’s a passion. During the first Trump term, as director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, he tried and failed to get Mr. Trump to impose across-the-board tariffs on imports. Now, Mr. Navarro is getting his wish.
But being ultraloyal hasn’t guaranteed ultimate sway on policy. When the global “Liberation Day” tariffs led to turmoil in financial markets, a week later Secretaries Bessent and Lutnick went to the Oval Office and persuaded Mr. Trump to announce a pause on some of the levies. They intentionally bypassed Mr. Navarro, who they knew would be at a meeting elsewhere.
Then there was the famous blowup between Mr. Navarro and billionaire Elon Musk, the head of Mr. Trump’s government-slashing effort. Mr. Musk, whose Tesla cars rely on imported parts, is not a fan of tariffs – and unleashed a string of insults last month at Mr. Navarro, including calling him a “moron.”
“It’s almost inevitable that there will be splits in the Trump team around tariffs, because the policy itself is internally incoherent,” says William Galston, chair of governance studies at The Brookings Institution and a former domestic policy adviser in the Clinton White House.
Mr. Galston is referring to the seemingly conflicting goals of tariffs – that they will both produce more government revenue, allowing for lower taxes, while simultaneously reducing foreign trade by reshoring production of goods. The more tariffs succeed in reshoring, the fewer imports there will be to generate revenue.
Mr. Lutnick, the commerce secretary, stepped in that pothole in early April, when he spoke positively on TV of how tariffs could push production of iPhones into the U.S. – with an “army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws.” He did add that any iPhone production in the U.S. would be automated, but his awkwardly worded statement was widely lampooned.
Mr. Trump’s Wall Street allies responded by telling the president to get Mr. Lutnick off TV. That hasn’t happened entirely, as his exuberant support for Trump policies makes him a compelling guest. But he has clearly been eclipsed by Mr. Bessent of late as the administration’s go-to spokesman on trade.
Another influential figure on Trump economic policy is Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget. Mr. Vought, a veteran of Trump 1.0 and a MAGA stalwart, is an architect of Project 2025, the blueprint for Mr. Trump’s second term. A quiet figure not prone to drama, he holds great sway in the White House – and is fully on board with the Trump tariff policy.
Two other important members of Mr. Trump’s economic team hail from the younger generation – in their early-to-mid-40s – and served in more junior positions in the first Trump administration. U.S. Trade Rep. Jamieson Greer was chief of staff to Mr. Trump’s first-term trade representative. While Mr. Greer is a regular on TV, defending trade policy, he plays second fiddle to Mr. Bessent on tariff negotiations.
The other next-gen figure of note is Stephen Miran, a Harvard Ph.D. in economics serving as chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. His point of distinction is a controversial proposal called the Mar-a-Lago Accord, which aims to weaken the U.S. dollar as a way to reduce the trade deficit.
Mr. Bessent firmly disagrees with that approach. In an April 4 appearance with right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson, the Treasury secretary asserted that only he and the president can speak for the administration on the dollar.
“We have a strong dollar policy,” Mr. Bessent said.
