As part of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, various economists and businesspeople have served both in a formal and an informal capacity, to advise Trump on macroeconomics and associated government policy decisions. During the 2016 transition to the presidency, Trump gained additional advisors, and after the inauguration some of his advisors will officially become part of the Trump administration (including the NEC, NTC, advisors, czars, counselors, OMB, CEA, Treasury, Commerce, USTR, SBA, SEC, and the Fed) while others will remain in the private sector as informal advisors with varying degrees of influence.
Background
During his first presidential campaign
Trump released initial details of his economic policies when his campaign officially began in June 2015, and more details during the first Republican debates which began in August 2015. Although critical of certain aspects of Trump's early economic plans, especially increasing tariffs as opposed to free trade policies, Larry Kudlow and Steve Moore would eventually agree to join the Trump campaign as advisors. Although most presidential candidates had announced a team of formal economic advisors by October 2015, at the time Trump still primarily relied upon his business background to inform his economic plan (Carly Fiorina was the other candidate who relied primarily upon her own background in business in the early phases of the campaign). In addition to his own business expertise, Trump had a network of contacts that sometimes served as informal economic advisors during his campaign, including Carl Icahn. Even as late as July 2016, however, Kudlow and Moore were still not official advisors, despite having already helped craft some of Trump's policy-positions related to taxation for instance.
During the general election Trump released a list of his campaign's official economic advisers in August 2016, which was significantly anti-establishment and therefore included few people with any governmental experience, yet at the same time aimed to include some of the elites of business and finance, primarily people with well-known names. Although most of the names were new, existing Trump advisers David Malpass, Peter Navarro, Stephen Moore, and Dan DiMicco were also on the list, formally led by Stephen Miller, the national policy director, and directly led by deputy policy director Dan Kowalski. The Trump'16 finance director Steven Mnuchin was also listed, and played a role in helping coordinate the group. Many of the names on the original list, or on the subsequent expansions thereof, received media attention as potential appointees to the presidential Council of Economic Advisers, or in other Trump administration roles. As of August 2016, Trump's economic advisors included:
Tom Barrack, CEO of Colony Capital, 2017 inauguration chair, former Treasury contender, major donor Andy Beal, banker, billionaire, professional poker player, major donor Stephen Calk, CEO of the Federal Savings Bank, officer and helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army Dan DiMicco, former CEO of Nucor, Commerce/CEA/USTR contender Steve Feinberg, CEO of Cerberus Capital, major donor Harold Hamm, oil and gas industry, billionaire, former Energy/Interior contender Kathleen Hartnett-White, former EPA/Interior contender, a director at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, former head of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Diane Hendricks, chair of ABC Supply, billionaire, originally backed Walker'16 Darlene Jordan, former assistant attorney general of Massachusetts Dan Kowalski, former deputy staff director for the Senate Budget Committee 2009-2015 and House Budget Committee staffer 1998-2007, co-lead of the Trump'16 economic advisers team, Trump'16 deputy director of policy, on the Trump OMB transition team Howard Lorber, CEO of Vector Group, major donor David Malpass, Fed/OMB/USTR contender Ted Malloch, author, consultant, and television producer Betsy McCaughey, former lieutenant governor of New York, divorced spouse of Wilbur Ross Stephen Miller, Trump'16 director of policy, Sr. Advisor appointee Steven Mnuchin, founder of hedge fund Dune Capital Management, former Goldman Sachs employee, Trump'16 finance chair, major donor, Treasury-designate Stephen Moore, founding president of the Club for Growth, CEA contender Peter Navarro, business school professor at UC-Irvine, CEA contender John Paulson, CEO of investment firm Paulson & Co. Brooke Rollins, CEO of Texas Public Policy Foundation, former deputy general counsel under Governor Rick Perry Wilbur Ross, billionaire investor, Commerce-designate, divorced spouse of Betsy McCaughey Steve Roth, chair of Vornado Realty Trust (although on the list of advisers in August 2016, Roth said in September 2016 he was no longer spending any time on the effort) Carla Sands, philanthropist and chair of Vintage Capital Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge Capital, former Goldman Sachs employee Judy Shelton, Fed Vice-chair contender, possible future Fed Chair contender, former advisor to Carson'16, director of the Sound Money Project at the Atlas Network, economist with a Ph.D. in business administration from University of Utah, noted for her 1989 book The Coming Soviet Crash Liz Uihlein, president of Uline Several of the advisors were major donors to Trump's presidential campaign. At first, only one of Trump's initial list of a dozen official advisors, Peter Navarro, had a PhD in economics. Although he had been in contact with Trump since 2011, Navarro had never met nor spoken with Trump directly in August 2016, but began to meet with Trump in person late in the 2016 campaign. A few days after Navarro was announced, Trump added Judy Shelton, an economist with a Ph.D in business administration to his team.
As president-elect in 2016
As of December 2016, many of the advisors during the campaign listed above are under consideration for cabinet-level roles or other high-level roles in the Trump administration. (For instance, Navarro is a contender for the CEA chair, and Shelton is a contender for Fed Vice-chair.)
Informal presidential advisors In addition to his statutory advisory groups, Trump is also organizing efforts to directly communicate with business leaders.
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