Who Is Stephen Miran? What Trump Adviser Pick Has Said About the Economy

What’s New

President-elect Donald Trump announced on Sunday in a Truth Social post that Stephen Miran, a member of Trump’s first administration, will lead the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) during his second term.

Newsweek has filled out an online contact form on Miran’s Manhattan Institute page on Sunday.

Why It Matters

The CEA, composed of three members, advises the president on economic policy. As chair, Miran will lead the council’s economic agenda, review federal policies and programs, analyze economic trends, and recommend economic policies.

On the campaign trail, Trump criticized the U.S. economy and high inflation under President Joe Biden, pledging to implement strong economic policies to fix them.

Trump has been vocal about imposing tariffs on imports, with especially higher ones on Canada and Mexico unless they commit to addressing undocumented immigration and illegal drug traffic, as well as on China over production materials used to make fentanyl.

The president-elect has also vowed to make the U.S. “the crypto capital of the planet” and backed the creation of a “strategic bitcoin reserve” earlier this year.

Trump wrote in his announcement that Miran will work alongside his economic team to “deliver a Great Economic Boom that lifts up all Americans.”

What To Know

Miran, who has a doctorate in economics from Harvard University, served as a senior adviser on economic policy at the Treasury Department during Trump’s first term, providing fiscal and financial responses to the COVID-19 pandemic recession. According to his LinkedIn page, he served in the advisory role for 10 months.

He is a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a think tank, and a senior strategist at Hudson Bay Capital, a global investment firm. In July, Miran co-authored a paper for the firm with economist Nouriel Roubini, arguing that the U.S. Treasury under Secretary Janet Yellen is “usurping core functions of the Federal Reserve” and manipulating markets for economic stimulation.

Yellen rejected the claims, saying at the time that the co-authored paper “suggests a strategy that is intended to ease financial conditions, and I can assure you 100 percent that there is no such strategy. We have never, ever discussed anything of the sort,” according to the New York Times.

Miran has also spoken out against Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, writing in an X, formerly Twitter, post in September that “Powell was wrong politically and economically when he urged Congress to ‘go big’ on fiscal stimulus in October of 2020.”

He has argued that lower tax rates are less harmful than higher ones, writing in an X post in November, “At the end of the day, government has to raise revenue via taxation. Higher tax rates are much more dangerous than lower tax rates.”

Regarding Trump’s tariff plans, he wrote, “Taking effective tariff rates from 2% to 20% seems way better than taking maringal [marginal] income tax rates from 30% even higher.” He added, “Better to take tariffs from low levels higher, than corporate or income from already-high to even-higher.”

Later in November, he reiterated his support for Trump’s tariff policies, writing, “I’m thrilled that President Trump is already using tariffs to gain negotiating leverage to improve security outcomes for Americans. About time we actually tackled problems instead of letting them slide.”

Miran seems to view cryptocurrency favorably, having appeared on The Bitcoin Layer’s video podcast on December 11 and Blockworks’ Forward Guidance podcast in November.

What People Are Saying

Miran posted on X on Sunday moments after the announcement: “I am beyond honored that President Trump has chosen me to lead his Council of Economic Advisers. I look forward to working to help implement the President’s policy agenda to create a booming, noninflationary economy that brings prosperity to all Americans!”

Reihan Salam, president of the Manhattan Institute, wrote on X on Sunday: “This is an outstanding choice. @SteveMiran is sharp, thoughtful, creative, and a patriot through and through. We’re all immensely proud of the work he’s done at @ManhattanInst, and we’re excited for what’s to come.”

What Happens Next

Miran, like his predecessor CEA chair Jared Bernstein, will need Senate confirmation before leading the agency. Trump will take office in less than a month, on January 20, 2025.