WITH just 70 days to go before Donald J Trump becomes the 45th President of the United States, his advisors are now busily engaged in the key task of drawing up the list of who will be in his Cabinet: Team Trump.
Chris Christie, the Governor of New Jersey, is heading the transition team, and is working out of two floors in an office block near the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue.
As the world's largest economy, the choice of Treasury Secretary will be closely watched by the markets around the world keen to pick up on any hints for the tax and spending policies the Trump administration will pursue.
Heavily tipped for the role is Goldman Sachs veteran Steven Mnuchin, who served as the President-elect’s finance chairman.
Mr Trump has claimed he can get the US economy to grow by nearly four per cent, twice its current rate, by cutting taxes by around six trillion dollars, almost five trillion pounds, over 10 years, expanding oil and natural gas production and slashing most federal regulations.
But his ambitions could lead to a clash with the Federal Reserve's Janet Yellen, whom he has criticised for keeping interest rates too low for too long. Her term does not end until early 2018 and while it would appear unlikely that Mr Trump would nominate her for a second four-year period in office, he might have to learn to work with her until that point.
The key role of secretary of state could go to Washington veteran, the former House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich, who was one of the most prominent Republicans to side with Mr Trump during the presidential campaign.
Also said to be in the running is neocon John Bolton, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations during the George W Bush administration, and Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate committee on foreign relations.
On the new foreign secretary’s plate would be how to deal with the European Union, particularly over trade given Mr Trump has spoken of protectionist measures because of concerns American jobs are going abroad. The new secretary of state will also have to deal with concerns EU partners have over the President-elect’s approach to Nato, which he has dismissed as “obsolete”.
The thawing of relations with Russia would impact on the situation in Syria, where Moscow is backing the Assad regime.
However, any coolness between the new administration in Washington and France and Germany, whose responses to Mr Trump’s election were less than warm and fulsome, could benefit America’s old ally Britain as it attempts to cut its own smaller scale trade deal.
By redrawing trade deals, cutting taxes, and initiating a massive infrastructure programme, the billionaire businessman hopes to boost American jobs. Those thought to be in line for the job of Commerce Secretary are Wilbur Ross, a billionaire investor and one of Mr Trump’s economic advisors, Senator David Perdue, a former chief executive officer of Reebok and Lew Eisenberg, the finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Among those touted for the leading lawyer’s role of attorney general are Mr Christie and former New York mayor, Rudy Giuliani.
An ebullient supporter of the President-elect during the campaign, the 72-year-old former lawyer who was associate Attorney General under Ronald Reagan, having earlier demurred on the subject, told CNN: “I certainly have the energy and there’s probably no one that knows the justice department better than me.”
Few women appear to have had their names mentioned but one is Sarah Palin, the former Governor of Alaska, who was the Republican vice presidential nominee in 2008. She could be up against another woman for the job of Interior Secretary; Mary Fallin, the Governor of Oklahoma.
Among those suggested as the next defence secretary is the impressively named Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, a senator from Alabama, as well as Stephen Hadley, a former National Security Adviser under the Bush administration.
For the health portfolio, those thought to be being considered are the African American creationist Ben Carson, a retired neurosurgeon, who was one of Mr Trump’s former rivals in the primaries and then backed the President-elect.
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