President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Michael Faulkender, a finance professor at the University of Maryland, as deputy U.S. Treasury secretary. Faulkender previously served as Treasury’s assistant secretary of economic policy under then-Secretary Steven Mnuchin, playing a key role in implementing the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) during the pandemic. If confirmed, his responsibilities will expand to include sanctions policy, financial markets regulation, tax policy, and managing the $28 trillion Treasury debt market.
Trump also nominated Scott Bessent, a prominent investor, for Treasury secretary, calming market concerns over potential deficits from Trump’s proposed tariffs and tax cuts. Trump praised Faulkender on Truth Social, calling him a “distinguished economist and policy practitioner” who would advance the administration’s “America First Agenda” and help deliver an economic boom.
After Trump’s first term, Faulkender returned to teaching at the University of Maryland and served as chief economist at the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank. During a March Congressional hearing, he credited the Trump administration’s $800 billion PPP with aiding the U.S. economy’s recovery by January 2021. He criticized the Biden administration’s $2 trillion COVID-19 aid for fueling inflation, advocating for spending cuts and deregulation to address debt growth.
Faulkender warned that unchecked debt and rising interest costs could lead to a bond market failure, threatening economic stability. He emphasized the need for fiscal discipline to lower inflation and reduce borrowing costs.
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