President-elect Donald Trump has reportedly chosen hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to lead the Treasury Department, where he will likely carry out the president’s plans to raise tariffs — a strategy that will likely have significant impacts on low-income people and women. Bessent is the first out gay member of Trump’s Cabinet picks. 

Bessent is the billionaire founder of Key Square Capital Management, a global investment firm, and previously the chief investment officer at the hedge fund Soros Fund Management. He has been an economic adviser to the president-elect and a major donor and fundraiser, donating more than $1 million to Trump political action committees this election cycle. 

Bessent would be taking over the role from Biden’s Treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, the first woman in the position. But he will likely be taking on a very different focus from Yellen, who has prioritized low-wage workers, marginalized people and small businesses in her approach. 

Bessent would instead be at the helm of Trump’s economic agenda, which will feature tariffs at the very center. 

Tariffs are a tax on foreign imports. Historically, the United States has lower tariffs than other countries, which Trump argues has led to a dependence on foreign goods. Trump’s goal is to raise those charges so that companies are incentivized to manufacture and source goods in the United States, bringing the country additional revenue from what does come in from overseas. 

During his first term, Trump increased tariffs on steel and some Chinese goods by as much as 25 percent and aluminimum by 10 percent. That led to more domestic production of steel and aluminum in 2021 — about $1.5 billion more — but it also meant that American manufacturers that relied on those materials to make other products, like cars, made fewer of them — about $3.5 billion less, according to a study by the United States International Trade Commission. 

This time, the president-elect wants to go further, raising tariffs 10 to 20 percent on all imports, and even more on imports from China, going as high as 60 percent or more. 

That may tip the scales too far in the other direction, economists have warned, leading numerous experts to criticize that plan, as well as Trump’s plan to deport undocumented immigrants who make up the backbone of some industries. It may also lead other countries to raise their tariffs, creating significant price increases across the board. 

Ultimately, raising tariffs means that retailers will pass on some of those increased costs to consumers. The ones who would feel that impact the most are low-income families and women. 

Women make up the majority of low-income workers, especially in industries that would most likely be impacted by tariffs. Sectors like retail and manufacturing are vulnerable to increased tariffs because they tend to rely on importing raw materials. If companies choose to absorb some of those increased costs by reducing their hiring or lowering wages for workers, those workers (women are 60 percent of sales workers, for example) will be affected. 

A September report by the World Trade Organization found that, globally, “tariffs tend to be higher in sectors with a higher proportion of female employees, and on products primarily consumed by women.”

Low-income households also tend to purchase imported goods more because the cost is lower. If those prices rise, they will have less wiggle room to adjust their budgets. That affects not only those individual women, but their families. Women are more likely than men to be single heads of households caring for children.

Wall Street firms Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are already warning of increased prices on the way. The nonpartisan Oxford Economics research group has estimated that, in combination, Trump’s economic policies would increase inflation and slow growth. The Peterson Institute for International Economics, a nonpartisan think tank, estimates an increase in costs of $2,600 for the average American family if Trump imposes a general 20 percent tariff and a 60 percent tariff on Chinese goods. 

The National Retail Federation and several major retailers across the country have also indicated they are preparing to see costs rise. National Retail Federation CEO Matthew Shay has called Trump’s tariffs a “tax on American families” that will drive up inflation. 

Women make the majority of consumer purchases in the United States and have experienced firsthand how inflation affected family budgets throughout the pandemic. If costs rise again, it will be them who will feel the shockwaves first. 

Exactly which items will see price increases is still not entirely clear, though electronics, clothing and toys, which are heavily sourced from Asia and especially China, would likely see some of the biggest increases. 

As an indication of where those increases may come, Walmart Chief Financial Office John David Rainey said recently that markups could come to the country’s largest big-box retailer. About a third of its products are imported. 

“We never want to raise prices,” he told CNBC. “Our model is everyday low prices. But there probably will be cases where prices will go up for consumers.”

For the role of Treasury secretary, Trump has said he was looking for someone who would embrace his tariff strategy. 

“For too long, the conventional wisdom has rejected the use of tariffs as a tool of both economic and foreign policy,” Bessent wrote in a recent op-ed. “We should not be afraid to use the power of tariffs to improve the livelihoods of American families and businesses.”