Trump adviser resigns in policy dispute
Gary Cohn leaves after losing fight over president’s steel, aluminum tariffs
Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser, is leaving after dispute over trade policy.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser resigned 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 director Gary Cohn, the former president of Goldman Sachs, leaves a Trump administration that has pivoted sharply from last year’s business friendly tax cuts toward 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 Cohn eventually being outmaneuvered by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, trade adviser Peter Navarro, and ultimately Trump himself.
In a statement, Cohn said it was his honor to serve in the administration and “enact pro-growth economic policies to benefit the American people.”
Cohn’s departure comes amid a period of unparalleled tumult in the Trump administration. Trump’s communications director, Hope Hicks, one of his closest and most devoted aides, announced her resignation last week, leaving a glaring vacancy in the informal cadre of Trump loyalists in the White House.
The Cohn announcement came hours after Trump denied there was chaos in the White House. Trump maintained that his White House has “tremendous energy,” but multiple White House officials said Trump has been urging anxious aides to stay.
“Everyone wants to work in the White House,” Trump said during a joint press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven. “They all want a piece of the Oval Office.”
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 Cohn 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, Va.
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.
People close to Cohn said the pivot toward protectionism this year was infuriating, and he wouldn’t force himself to go out in public and defend it. He made a last-ditch 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 on Tuesday morning previewed future departures. “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.
The news about Cohn came as congressional Republicans and industry groups pressed Trump on Tuesday to narrow his plan for the tariffs. Trump appeared unmoved, declaring: “Trade wars aren’t so bad.”
The president said he planned to move forward with special tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, contending the U.S. has long been “mistreated.”
The president’s pledge for action, which would be in line with a one of his campaign promises, came after House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin called for a “more surgical approach” that would help avert a potentially dangerous trade war. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said there was concern Trump’s plan could lead to such disruptive turmoil.