However, following the early-April market losses spurred by the implementation of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs, Bessent began to take on a greater share of the White House’s messaging despite claims of the contrary from the White House.

One month later, nearly a dozen longtime Trump allies and seasoned Republican operatives tell the Washington Examiner that they see Bessent’s elevation as critical to securing the president’s two initial trade agreements, and U.S. stocks largely recovering from their tariff-related losses as a result.

An alumnus of the first Trump White House assessed that, of Trump’s Cabinet, Bessent seems to be the “most serious person in the room.”

“It’s a completely different administration this time around. He had serious people in some of those positions last time, but they were Never Trumpers,” the former aide claimed. “This time around, he just didn’t put serious people in most of these positions, and he just put in Fox News hosts and loyalists he could trust, but they’re not serious.”

Two veteran Republican fundraisers, both of whom supported Trump in every election since 2016, said Trump’s decision to install Bessent over Lutnick at Treasury could be one of the most consequential decisions of Trump’s second term. 

“I think a lot of people are realizing that Bessent is one of the best assets on a variety of subjects and a variety of bailiwicks within the Trump administration,” one fundraiser said. “He’s not into performative theater, like some of the other people. He’s relatively calm, cool, and collected, and he knows his s***.”

“I think you’re also seeing why Bessent got Treasury and why Lutnick didn’t, even though he was positioning himself during the transition again,” that person continued. “He’s not winging it like — there have certainly been some people who’ve been said to be showing up to some of these meetings and winging it without even reading briefing books.”

“When there was all that volatility, and Lutnick kept going on TV, the markets would shift,” the second fundraiser assessed. “Once Bessent took over, things calmed down a lot, and you’ve just seen Bessent on TV more and more as a result.”

An analysis conducted last month by Neil Dutta, head of economics research at Renaissance Macro, backs up that claim. Dutta found that from March 1 through April 22, the S&P 500 fell 719 points on days when Lutnick or Navarro appeared on television. On the other hand, the index actually gained ground, 52 points in total, when Bessent appeared on TV.

White House officials discounted that “outdated” report, suggesting that the president is still equally relying on the tariff counsel of Bessent, Lutnick, Navarro, and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

One official confirmed that Bessent and Treasury, with an assist from Greer, are “running point” on negotiations with East Asian countries, including China, while Lutnick is leading “basically everywhere else.”

“Prior to the China deal, the thing that most rose markets was the U.K. deal, which Lutnick was running point on,” the White House aide explained. “And if you remember, Bessent was on the sidelines in the Oval because he wasn’t running point on the U.K. deal.”

“This isn’t one person’s being elevated and one person’s being demoted, so to speak. It says that they’ve all been given buckets or countries,” that person continued. “It’s more division of labor than ‘oh, the markets are spooked by China. Let’s get the guy that Wall Street likes to do that one.’”

Still, Bessent has continued to stack significant wins for the president in recent weeks, beyond the trade negotiations. That list includes reviving the rare minerals deal with Ukraine, previously scuttled due to an Oval Office spat between Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and doing damage control with Republican donors in California after the president floated placing new tariffs on foreign films.

On May 5, Bessent and Trump special envoy Richard Grenell were the featured guests at a reception hosted by Trump-aligned lobbying group Tactic Global at the Peninsula hotel in Beverly Hills. Multiple attendees at the event told the Washington Examiner that Bessent helped ease concerns about the president’s tariff agenda, including those of hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman.

Ackman, who supported Trump in 2024, was a notable critic of the president’s tariff rollout last month and publicly urged Trump to pause implementation to allow for bilateral negotiations with U.S. trading partners.

And on Monday, he specifically praised Bessent for leading negotiations with Chinese officials in Switzerland and closing a preliminary trade agreement with Beijing.

“Scott Bessent is extremely effective because he is highly respected and he has the confidence of Donald Trump,” he wrote. “A winning combination.”

Signs of Bessent’s apparent ascension additionally manifested on Trump’s trip across the Middle East this week.

Both Bessent and Lutnick accompanied Trump on the trip, and though the president mentioned both the U.K. and China deals during his Tuesday remarks speech in Saudi Arabia, Trump only mentioned one of those lead negotiators by name.

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“We just reached a historic trade agreement with the United Kingdom, and over the weekend, we reached a breakthrough agreement with China, both outstanding deals,” Trump told Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and scores of business leaders. “China has agreed we have to get it down. We have to get the little details down. Scott, you’re going to work on that very hard.”