The US Treasury announced Friday that Judy Shelton will serve as a Counselor in the Office of the Secretary, reporting directly to Secretary Scott Bessent. Shelton is an economist and author specializing in international financial and currency issues. She previously served as US Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and as Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy, and has held senior fellowships at the Independent Institute and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, where she wrote on the monetary history of the Soviet Union.
Per the Treasury statement, Shelton “will advise the Secretary on currency policy, with a particular focus on evaluating financial conditions in China.” The statement said she has specialized throughout her career in analyzing the internal monetary and financial conditions of nations and their impact on exchange rates, has testified numerous times before Congress as an expert witness on international financial relations, and has consulted with national security officials on global economic developments.
The appointment is notable because Shelton was President Donald Trump’s 2019 nominee to the Federal Reserve Board, and her confirmation was blocked by a bipartisan group of senators over her views on central-bank independence, her support for the gold standard, and her questions about whether the United States needs a central bank. As a Counselor in the Office of the Secretary, she serves in a role that does not require Senate confirmation.
For currency markets, the mandate’s explicit China focus is the detail to watch. Treasury’s semiannual foreign-exchange report has been the main channel for Washington’s assessments of partner countries’ currency practices, and a new senior adviser whose brief is “evaluating financial conditions in China” suggests that channel could get more attention. The appointment does not by itself change US exchange-rate policy, which is conducted under the strong-dollar framework and set jointly with the Federal Reserve, but it puts a hard-money voice in the room where those assessments are prepared.