Treasury Secretary Bessent stops short of confirming Kevin Hassett as next Fed chair-awdailynews

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2025-12-04

Treasury Secretary Bessent stops short of confirming Kevin Hassett as next Fed chair

As speculation swirls about whether National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett will be named the next chair of the Federal Reserve, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has been leading the interview process, stopped short on Wednesday of confirming that the Fed chair job will go to Hassett.

When asked at the New York Times DealBook Summit whether Hassett could secure the job, Bessent demurred and went on to explain the extent of the Fed chair’s authority to influence interest rates.

“I think the important thing to remember here is that it’s a board and then several other voters from the regional banks. So, the chair of the Federal Reserve has the ability to move and start the discussion, but at the end of the day, he or she cannot — he or she is one vote,” Bessent said.

Bessent’s comments come after President Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday that he has narrowed down the list of candidates to one and will probably announce his pick early next year. At an event later on Tuesday, he singled out Hassett, who was in the room, as a “potential Fed chair.”

“I guess a potential Fed chair is here too. I don’t know. Are we allowed to say that potential? He’s a respected person, that I can tell you. Thank you, Kevin,” Trump said.

Bessent also critiqued the Fed, pointing out that some regional officials are not from the region they represent. Bessent said he’d advocate for a rule requiring regional Fed officials to have lived in the district they represent for at least three years.

Polymarket odds show a 70% chance that Hassett will be selected as the next Fed chair.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks onstage during the New York Times DealBook Summit 2025 at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Dec. 3 in New York City. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images for the New York Times) · David Dee Delgado via Getty Images

Hassett told Yahoo Finance in a recent interview that he places a high priority on Fed independence, sound monetary policies, and aligning interest rates with economic conditions. He criticized the Fed for assuming that the spike in inflation around the pandemic and Biden-era stimulus checks was temporary.

Meanwhile, Bessent on Wednesday praised Trump’s tariff strategy, acknowledging that his own view on how much and how quickly the US could raise trade duties has undergone a marked change.

“Early on, [Trump] said the United States is like a department store. Everyone wants to shop here,” Bessent said in the wide-ranging conversation on the economy, global trade, and the future of the Fed at the DealBook event in New York.

Bessent acknowledged that he has changed his mind on the merits of tariffs since 2024, when he was a skeptic.