Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told a room full of billionaires in Sun Valley that President Donald Trump shares a personality feature with his former boss, famous liberal financier George Soros: both are impatient when working in high-risk business.
Bessent spoke on Wednesday at the Allen & Co. annual conference-nicknamed “summer camp for billionaires” in Sun Valley, Idaho. When asked by the moderator to compare his current and previous bosses, Bessent said that Trump and Soros are similar in temperament, demands and impatience, according to people present.
The Treasury Secretary said he advises Trump to have patience while working on commercial ads, reported the sources, who asked for anonymity to share details of the discussion to closed doors, forbidden to public and journalists.
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Bessent praised Trump for his unique ability to identify problems and find solutions, but said he can sometimes be impatient in implementation, according to sources. During questions from the hearing, Bessento minimized the effect of inflation rates and predicted two interest rate reductions later this year, adding that long-term loan costs will probably be aligned with pre-pound levels.
Representatives of the Treasury and White House department did not comment.
Before becoming Trump’s main economic advisor, Bessent worked twice at Soros Fund Management, reaching the investment director before leaving to found his own hedge fund.
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It is still unclear how much Bessent influenced the president in recent days. This week, Trump used social networks to announce a series of new tariffs on business partners through letters stating that the rates will take effect on August 1, rather than bilateral agreements that the White House had previously suggested.
This includes a 50% rate on Brazilian products, with Trump citing political disagreements with the South American country. The rate surprised, as the US has commercial surplus with Brazil.
Bessent is the main negotiator in conversations with China, Japan and other Asian nations and has helped Trump shape his trade policy, an unusual position for a Treasury Secretary.
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He should travel to Japan next week, although the Treasury Department states that trade will not be the subject of the visit. It is also planned that he will soon meet with Chinese authorities, as well as the coordinating minister of Indonesia economy.
The US fare about Chinese products reached 145% earlier this year, before Bessent and US commercial representative Jamieson Greer meet Chinese authorities in Geneva, Switzerland in May.
Both parties held a second round of negotiations in London in June, largely reaffirming the tariff truce reached at the first meeting. The Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, participated in these discussions along with Bessent and Greer.
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However, a comprehensive agreement is still uncertain, with the Geneva agreement serving mainly to define the course of future negotiations.
Bessent also made some provocations to the former White House counselor and Tesla CEO, Elon Musk, with whom he would have had disagreements.
Asked Musk launching a political party, Bessent replied, “What party?” According to one of the sources.
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He also joked that Musk would probably get votes on Mars, referring to the ambitions of the richest man in the world to bring humanity to the planet with the advances of his space company, Spacex.
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