Drew Angerer/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — President-elect Donald Trump has officially announced his picks to head up the Treasury and Commerce Departments.
In a statement Wednesday morning, Trump announced his intent to nominate billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Mnuchin as his secretary of the Treasury and billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as his secretary of Commerce. He also named Chicago Cubs co-owner Todd Ricketts as his deputy secretary of Commerce.
“This team will be instrumental in implementing the president-elect’s America First economic plan that will create more than 25 million jobs over the next decade,” according to the statement.
Both Ross and Mnuchin were economic advisers to Trump before and after his victory in the presidential election.
Democrats were quick to slam Trump’s proposed economic team.
“So much for draining the swamp. Nominating Steve Mnuchin to be Treasury secretary – a billionaire hedge fund manager and Goldman Sachs alumnus who preyed on homeowners struggling during the recession – is a slap in the face to voters who hoped he would shake up Washington. Trump is already heading into office as the most corrupt, conflicted, and unpopular president-elect in history, and now he’s breaking his signature promise to the voters who elected him,” Democratic National Committee communications director Adam Hodge said in a statement Tuesday evening.
Mnuchin has been chided by conservatives for his previous donations to Democrats, including President Obama, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry and Al Gore. In 2011, he gave money to Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012.
Trump hailed his nominees as master deal makers and financial giants who can help change a broken system in Washington.
The three men, however, could find themselves playing second fiddle to Trump on some financial matters. On Tuesday evening, Trump took to Twitter to announce that he’d reached a deal with air conditioner manufacturer Carrier to keep 1,000 workers at its plant in Indiana. The company had announced earlier in the year that it would lay off 1,400 workers and move some of its production to Mexico.
Mnuchin praised the deal on Wednesday, telling reporters at Trump Tower that “this president and this vice president-elect are going to have open communications with business leaders.”
“This is a great first win without us even having to take the job,” he added.
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