Kudlow to replace Cohn
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has chosen Larry Kudlow, a CNBC television commentator who has served as an informal economic adviser to him, to be the next director of the National Economic Council.
Kudlow will assume the role of Trump’s top economic adviser, replacing Gary Cohn, who said he would resign after losing a battle over the president’s desire to impose large tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
Kudlow, who has criticized the president’s recently announced tariff plans, said Trump has a morenuanced view on trade than many people think.
“He regards himself as a free-trader,” Kudlow said. “He does not like to create obstacles, like tariffs. But he also has to protect the U.S. And he feels that many countries” have engaged in unfair trade practices.
Kudlow cited China as an example. The White House has taken steps to curb China and is expected to announce tariffs on certain Chinese products in the coming weeks.
Kudlow, who espouses a traditional conservative embrace of free trade, was a zealous convert to the supply-side economic policies that swept the Republican Party in the late 1970s and went on to serve in President Ronald Reagan’s Office of Management and Budget. He later served as chief economist for Bear Stearns.
In the early 1990s, Kudlow took a leave from the firm to enter drug and alcohol rehab; his colleagues said he abused cocaine.