Trump picks Kevin Hassett as chief economic adviser: What you should know

President-elect Donald Trump On Tuesday, Kevin elected Hassett as director of the National Economic Council (NEC). Hassett is expected to return after serving as a key economic adviser during Trump’s first term in the White House.

Trump said in a statement that Hassett “will play an important role in helping American families recover from inflation unleashed by the Biden administration” and that “together we are renewing and improving our record tax cuts.” and will ensure that we engage in fair trade with countries that have taken advantage of the United States in the past.

The president-elect added that Hassett “will also play a key role in strengthening our economic relationships with new and old allies while ensuring the prosperity of the American people.”

Hassett, 62, currently works as executive director at the Milken Institute and is the Brent R. Nicklas Distinguished Fellow in Economics at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Kevin Hassett was chosen by President-elect Trump to serve as director of the National Economic Council. (Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

As NEC director, Hassett will play a central role in developing the new Trump administration Economic policy in collaboration with other agencies and consultants.

During Trump’s first term, Hassett served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) from 2017 to 2019. The CEA provides economic research to the White House and essentially functions as an internal economic analysis consulting firm.

Hassett was confirmed to chair the CEA by a vote of 81-16 in the Senate, about two months before the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress passed the legislation Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in 2017. He was a champion of the Trump administration’s economic policies, including landmark tax cuts – some of which are set to expire next year.

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Kevin Hassett speaks at a press conference during Trump’s first term, holding a copy of the President’s economic report prepared by the CEA. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images/Getty Images)

Unlike the CEA role, Director of the National Economic Council (NEC) is a presidentially appointed position that is not required Senate confirmation.

After leaving the Trump administration in 2019, Hassett returned a year later in the midst of the crisis Covid pandemic to advise the President on economic policy issues in light of current public health restrictions.

Previously, Hassett was the top economic adviser to John McCain’s presidential campaign during the 2000 Republican primary.

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He later served as senior economic adviser to the campaigns of George W. Bush in 2004, McCain in 2008, and Mitt Romney in 2012. Hassett also served as research director at the American Enterprise Institute and as a senior economist at the American Enterprise Institute Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve.