Cohn steps down
Ex-Goldman Sachs leader refused to back protectionism
President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser resigns after losing a major battle with other aides over protectionist tariffs on steel and aluminum.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser resigned on Tuesday, leaving the White House after losing a major battle with other aides over the implementation of protectionist tariffs on steel and aluminum.
White House National Economic Council Gary Cohn, the former president of Goldman Sachs, leaves a Trump administration that has pivoted sharply from last year’s business friendly tax cuts towards a much more protectionist approach.
In the past week, Trump has said he will impose tariffs that hit imports from Canada, Germany, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Turkey, South Korea, and a range of other countries, threatening to escalate the penalties if any nation dare to retaliate.
This came after Cohn spent months trying to steer Trump away from tariffs and trade wars, with Trump eventually being outmaneuvered by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, trade adviser Peter Navarro, and ultimately Trump himself.
Trump could cast a wide net in searching for a replacement, though he has told advisers that he wants to consider Larry Kudlow, a media personality and 2016 campaign adviser, according to several people briefed on Trump’s discussions.
In many ways, Cohn’s NEC was one of the most stable parts of the White House, avoiding the scandals and revolving-door image that the National Security Council and other offices endured. But Trump and the president had an on-again, off-again relationship, with relations becoming chilly after Cohn criticized Trump’s response to a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Cohn’s departure is likely to rattle business executives around the country, many of whom saw the Wall Street veteran as an unapologetic critic of Trump’s nationalist and protectionist views. It was Cohn and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin who helped convince Trump to postpone ripping up trade agreements or imposing tariffs late last year to avoid enraging congressional Republicans during the tax debate.
Cohn was not expected to stay long into 2018, but he did outlast the first wave of departures in January and February. The stock market soared in 2017 in part because of global growth but also because of investor enthusiasm over Trump’s deregulatory agenda and tax cut focus, items that Cohn helped design.
But people close to Cohn said the pivot towards protectionism this year was infuriating, and he wouldn’t force himself to go out in public and defend it. Cohn did not attend Trump’s press conference on Tuesday, something he typically does. He made a lastditch effort on Monday to schedule a meeting for Trump with companies that would be harmed by new steel and aluminum tariffs and the White House refused to schedule the meeting for the president.
Trump went on to argue that his White House is a talent magnet, even though chief of staff John Kelly has struggled to recruit experienced candidates for top-level jobs in the administration.
“I read where, oh, gee, maybe people don’t want to work for Trump,” the president said. “Believe me, everybody wants to work in the White House. They all want a piece of that Oval Office. They want a piece of the West Wing. And not only in terms of, it looks great on their resume. It’s just a great place to work. It’s got tremendous energy. It’s tough.”
Trump on Tuesday morning previewed future firings. “I still have some people that I want to change [always seeking perfection],” he wrote in a tweet.
But asked at the news conference who he had in mind — and whether he was looking to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions, with whom he has feuded bitterly for months — Trump would not say.
“I don’t really want to talk about that,” the president said. He added, “There will be people that change. They always change. Sometimes they want to go out and do something else. But they all want to be in the White House. So many people want to come in. I have a choice of anybody.”