“If you try to solve a macro problem through tariffs, it's not going to work,” said Adam Posen, president of the Peterson Institute of International Economics, about the Trump administrations plans to rebalance the global economy.

Scott Bessent is a hedge fund manager who investors believe will balance Trump’s economic promises with fiscal reality as treasury secretary.

Donald Trump wants to find a treasury secretary who can champion tariffs and keep financial markets calm.

“Especially with COVID … we’ve grown apart and misunderstandings have developed,” Yellen says. “It’s necessary to meet to discuss our differences openly.”

In March, the Treasury secretary told Marketplace that the U.S. and China need to put a “floor” under their relationship.

The Treasury secretary doesn’t see a 1970s-style inflation shock on the horizon. “The Federal Reserve wouldn’t permit that to happen.”

In her Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday, Yellen is calling on Congress to do more to fight a deep pandemic-induced recession.

Yellen, a former Fed chair, has advocated for more spending to aid small businesses and the unemployed during COVID-19.

Yellen, who is widely admired in the financial world, would be the first woman to lead the Treasury Department.

Fed programs and policy have helped ease economic pain during the pandemic. In its dwindling days, the Trump administration will end some of those emergency programs Dec. 31.