Wall Street Learns that Scott Bessent Isn’t Steve Mnuchin
March 17, 2025
Mar-a-Lago Accords — With Wall Street abuzz at the possibility of “Mar-a-Lago Accords” that would upend trade and currency markets, former Treasury markets room director Michael Pedroni is throwing up a caution flag. The playbook being promoted by Stephen Miran, Trump’s pick to chair the Council of Economic Advisers, to simultaneously impose new tariffs, weaken the value of the dollar to boost domestic manufacturing, and extend existing government debt into longer-dated securities to head off the risk of higher borrowing costs could work in theory, Pedroni writes in a blog post. Still, “the Administration can’t wave a magic wand and enact changes in a day. During the time it takes to do what Miran envisions, markets will go bonkers.”