Bessent Names Judy Shelton Treasury Currency Adviser

On Friday, October 9, 2026, the Treasury Department named Judy Shelton a counselor to Secretary Scott Bessent. She will advise him on currency policy, with a particular focus on evaluating financial conditions in China, the department said. The post does not require Senate confirmation. Shelton is not widely known as a China specialist. Treasury pointed instead to her experience analyzing countries' monetary conditions and exchange rates. She was President Donald Trump's Federal Reserve Board nominee in his first term; that bid failed amid bipartisan concerns about her support for the gold standard and skepticism of Fed independence. The Wall Street Journal reported she did not secure enough Senate votes after coronavirus quarantines kept some Republicans from voting. Politico notes she has long backed tying the dollar to gold, a policy the U.S. fully abandoned in 1971. The Hindu reported she previously led the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the National Endowment for Democracy and worked as a fellow at the Independent Institute and Stanford's Hoover Institution. Rated outlets do not dispute the hire, the China currency brief, or the failed Fed nomination. They differ on emphasis: left-rated stories lead with the Trump Fed history, the gold-standard record, and her institutional resume; the right-rated piece tracks the wire.