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Donald Trump has expanded his search for a Treasury secretary to serve in his second-term cabinet, throwing the contest for top economic official into confusion as he struggles to settle on a choice.

The Republican president-elect had been weighing whether to offer the job to Scott Bessent, a hedge fund manager, or Howard Lutnick, the co-chair of his transition effort and chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial firm. But at the weekend, Trump moved to widen the net of possible alternatives.

People close to the process say Kevin Warsh, a former Federal Reserve Governor, Marc Rowan, the chief executive of Apollo Global Management, and Bill Hagerty, the Tennessee senator, are now also in the running, along with Robert Lighthizer, the former US trade representative under Trump.

Trump has announced a string of potential appointments over the past week in the areas of national security, justice, health and energy but has held back on making any decisions on the top economic positions so far.

Trump’s advisers are seeking assurances from the top candidates to be Treasury secretary that they are committed to his sweeping plans to raise tariffs, people close to the discussions said.

Elon Musk, the billionaire investor who has emerged as one of Trump’s top allies, weighed in over the weekend in favour of Lutnick over Bessent. Musk, who sat next to Trump at a UFC championship fight in New York on Saturday night, wrote on X that “Bessent is a business-as-usual choice, whereas @howardlutnick will actually enact change”. 

Since Trump was elected, Bessent has been on the defensive about his commitment to enacting the president’s economic vision. In an opinion piece for Fox News last week, he described tariffs are “a means to finally stand up for Americans”.

But his critics have seized on comments to the Financial Times — that the agenda represented ‘maximalist’ positions that were negotiating tools — as a sign he would be soft on the issue.

Trump’s aides are reluctant to repeat the tensions over trade in his first administration, in which Steven Mnuchin, then Treasury secretary, frequently sought to moderate the tariff plans for fear of disrupting markets.

Several people familiar with the discussions inside Trump’s team said Lighthizer, who served as US trade representative in the first administration, had previously expressed interest in becoming Treasury secretary. 

On Sunday, the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a pro-tariff think-tank, backed Lighthizer publicly for Treasury secretary. 

“The next Treasury secretary must be 100 per cent aligned with President-elect Trump’s policy on tariffs,” it said in a post on X. “Former USTR Robert Lighthizer is a steadfast champion for the US economy and the best choice to carry out President Trump’s trade agenda,” it added. 

Tariffs have long been central to Trump’s plans to boost US manufacturing, create jobs and lower prices.

He has described it as the “most beautiful word in the dictionary” and the “greatest thing ever invented”. He has also billed such levies as an effective way to cover the costs of other pillars of his economic agenda, including large tax cuts for Americans. 

In addition to 60 per cent tariffs on all Chinese imports, Trump has floated a universal tariff of up to 20 per cent on all goods coming into the US. 

Whoever Trump selects as his Treasury secretary will be instrumental — along with the top US trade official — in both putting these policies into action as well as managing the economic ramifications.

Reporting by James Politi, Colby Smith, Demetri Sevastopulo and Stefania Palma in Washington and Antoine Gara and James Fontanella-Khan in New York

US President Joe Biden has authorised Ukraine to launch limited strikes into Russia using US-made long-range missiles, in a big policy shift before the end of his White House term in January, two people familiar with the decision said.

The move by Biden comes in response to the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to support Russia in its war against Ukraine, and after a barrage of new strikes by Moscow on Ukrainian cities at the weekend.

Tuesday will mark the 1,000th day of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Biden has allowed Ukraine to use HIMARS — the American High Mobility Artillery Rocket System — to strike targets inside Russia.

But he has long resisted allowing Kyiv to launch strikes within Russia using US-made long-range missiles known as the Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, on the grounds that it could escalate tensions with Moscow. ATACMS missiles have a range of up to 300 kilometres, or 190 miles.

He is now dropping those objections more than two months before he leaves office to make way for Donald Trump. The Republican is sceptical of additional military aid to Ukraine and has vowed to bring a swift end to the war — without saying how exactly he would do it.

The White House declined to comment. The Pentagon declined to respond to a request for comment.

In a late-night address in Kyiv on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted media reports “talking about the fact that we have received permission” to use the ATACMS inside Russia, though he did not confirm Biden’s decision.

Zelenskyy has pleaded for months for the US and other western partners to lift restrictions placed on long-range weapons provided by them for use inside Russia.

He has argued that cross-border strikes with the American ATACMS, British Storm Shadow and French Scalp missiles were necessary to hit Moscow’s forces before they could launch new attacks on Ukrainian targets, including critical infrastructure.

“Two countries are against us, against Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said on Friday, referring to Russia and North Korea. “We would very much like to be granted the ability to use long-range weapons against military targets on Russia’s territory.”

Andriy Zagorodnyuk, a former Ukrainian defence minister, said the use of ATACMS missiles would allow Kyiv to set its sights on “high value targets” and “potentially disrupt Russian operations”.

“There are targets which can only be addressed by high payload missiles such as ATACMS or equivalent aerial missiles. This is, of course, a decision giving Ukraine troops a chance, though as with many previous decisions coming after a significant and extremely painful delay.”

Biden’s decision to allow the Ukrainians to use ATACMS missiles followed the deployment early last month of some 12,000 North Korean troops to Russia.

This was the first foray into the war by a foreign military and a major expansion of North Korea’s support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Pyongyang had previously provided Moscow with hundreds of ballistic missiles and millions of artillery shells. In exchange, Moscow has provided Pyongyang with military technologies to help with its missile programmes and money, a senior Ukrainian official said.

In recent weeks, Moscow has massed some 50,000 troops, including 10,000 North Korean soldiers, ahead of an anticipated offensive in Russia’s Kursk region to retake about 600 sq km of territory held by Ukrainian forces since their incursion in August.

The American ATACMS missiles are likely to be first used by Ukraine to target those Russian and North Korean forces in the Kursk region. 

A Ukrainian intelligence assessment shared with the Financial Times revealed that North Korea has supplied Russia with long-range rocket and artillery weapons, including 50 domestically made 170mm M1989 self-propelled howitzers and 20 updated 240mm multiple launch rocket systems.

Some of these weapons have been moved to the Kursk region for the planned assault involving North Korean troops.

“Even if limited to the Kursk region, ATACMS missiles put at risk high value Russian systems, assembly areas, logistics, command and control,” said Michael Kofman, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

“They may enable Ukraine to hold on to Kursk for longer and raise the costs to North Korea for its involvement in the war.”

Bill Taylor, former US ambassador to Ukraine, said Biden’s decision makes “Ukraine stronger and increases the odds of a just end to the war”.

“The decision may also unlock British and French missiles. Possibly even German,” he added.

When asked about the escalatory risk from the US shift in policy, António Guterres, UN secretary-general, told reporters at the G20 in Rio de Janeiro: “We have a very consistent position regarding escalation in the Ukrainian war. We want peace . . . in line with the UN charter and international law.”

Russia has not yet responded to the move. In September, Vladimir Putin said any such US authorisation would mean “the direct involvement of Nato countries, the US, and the EU . . . It would mean they are at war with Russia — and if that’s the case, we will make the corresponding decisions.”

Russian military bloggers close to the Kremlin responded on Telegram with fury and frustration to the news.

Rybar, a channel with more than 1.3mn subscribers, said the threat of ATACMS missiles would force Russian command and control centres, air defences and airfields further from the front lines. 

Additional reporting by Henry Foy and Anastasia Stognei

For the first time, President Biden has given Ukraine the green light to use powerful American long-range weapons for strikes inside Russia, a U.S. official told NPR on Sunday.

The missiles, known as Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, can travel about 190 miles. Their use would enable Ukrainian troops to strike Russia’s weapon stockpiles, logistical centers and airfields — which could help stop Russian forces from advancing on the battlefield and attacking Ukrainian cities.

The U.S. official, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the decision, said the U.S. is allowing Ukraine to use the weapons to target in and around Kursk — the same region where some 10,000 North Korean troops were recently deployed, according to the U.S. and its allies.

The authorization marks a significant reversal in U.S. policy. Until recently, the Biden administration resisted allowing Ukraine to fire American long-range missiles into Russian territory for fear that it would only escalate the war.

The U.S. confirmed in the spring that it had sent ATACMS to Ukraine, with the caveat that the weapons would only be used inside Ukrainian territory.

British officials will likely follow suit in allowing Ukraine to use their Storm Shadow long-range missiles in Russia, the U.S. official said. These missiles can travel about 155 miles. The British needed U.S. approval because these missiles contain U.S. components.

It’s unclear how many long-range ATACMS Ukraine has but the numbers are limited since Ukraine already used some of the weapons on targets inside its territory.

A separate source on Capitol Hill, who also wasn’t authorized to speak publicly, said the decision is unlikely to be a game-changer in the war because of the limited number of such missiles and because Ukraine is already using drones to hit Russian targets.

The war has escalated since Ukrainian forces carried out a surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk region in August. The attack was viewed as a breakthrough for Ukraine and a setback for Russia. Then, in October, North Korea sent thousands of its troops to Kursk to help Russia fight off the Ukrainian incursion.

The policy shift comes just over two months before President-elect Donald Trump will return to the White House. Trump has criticized the amount of aid given to Ukraine in its fight against Russia and claimed he could end the war in 24 hours, though he has not explained how.

NPR’s Tom Bowman contributed reporting.