Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been tasked with driving Trump’s sweeping tariff agenda while calming markets, a role made even more difficult by a weakening dollar and lingering inflation concerns.

Bessent, a well-known hedge fund manager before joining the Trump administration, faces a task that some economists argue is contradictory. President Donald Trump has embarked on the most aggressive tariff rollout in decades. Bessent is one of the key people carrying out that agenda, but he is also working simultaneously to limit any fallout for Wall Street and the broader economy.