Dan Katz, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s Chief of Staff, is set to be nominated by the Trump administration for the position of first deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to three sources familiar with the matter.
This appointment is being hailed as a significant victory for President Trump’s “America First” economic agenda. Katz, a former senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who joined the Treasury Department earlier this year, will become the highest-ranking American official at the IMF. He will report directly to Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, the Bulgarian economist and former European Union commissioner who leads the global financial institution.
“He is one of Secretary Bessent’s closest advisors,” said an insider. “This nomination represents a big win for the administration’s economic priorities on the international stage.” The IMF is expected to approve the nomination smoothly, as Americans have traditionally held the No. 2 post.
The role has been vacant since Gita Gopinath, nominated by the Biden administration, stepped down at the end of last month to return to Harvard. Sources suggest the IMF will officially announce Katz’s nomination this Friday, followed by a two-week comment period before formal appointment by Georgieva.
Katz is a Yale graduate and Goldman Sachs alum who previously served in the first Trump administration. He played a key role in negotiating the US economic partnership deal with Ukraine and is considered Bessent’s point person on China relations. Notably, his wedding in 2019 was officiated by Lord Mervyn King, former governor of the Bank of England.
Recently, Bessent publicly criticized the IMF for what he called “mission creep,” accusing the institution of focusing excessively on social issues like climate change and gender equality at the expense of its core macroeconomic responsibilities. At the Institute of International Finance Forum in Washington, D.C., Bessent argued that the IMF was “whistling past the graveyard” by diverting resources away from crucial economic concerns.
Signs of change at the IMF have already emerged. Sources told The Post that the Fund’s climate and gender units will no longer operate as standalone divisions but will be merged into its broader macroeconomic department. This restructuring was first reported by Bloomberg News.
Founded in 1944 at the Bretton Woods Conference, the IMF was designed to help stabilize the global economy after World War II. By longstanding tradition, the US nominates the World Bank president, while European allies put forward candidates to lead the IMF.
Despite its mission to assist struggling economies, the IMF is known for offering generous perks to its staff, including access to exclusive amenities such as a high-end golf and country club in Maryland — a membership that costs regular citizens upwards of $20,000.
