COHN RESIGNS AS TRUMP’S TOP ECONOMIC ADVISER

President says will name replacement soon as there are ‘many people wanting the job’

GARY Cohn, the top economic adviser to United States President Donald Trump and a voice for Wall Street in the White House, said on Tuesday he would resign, a move that came after he lost a fight over Trump’s plans for steel and aluminium import tariffs.

The departure of Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, is expected to be finalised in a few weeks and will blow a hole in Trump’s already depleted advisory team at a time when the economy is growing but markets are volatile.

“Will be making a decision soon on the appointment of new Chief Economic Adviser. Many people wanting the job — will choose wisely!” Trump wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night.

Administration officials said Peter Navarro, director of the White House National Trade Council, and conservative commentator Larry Kudlow were the “top two candidates” for the job.

White House officials said the tariffs dispute contributed to Cohn’s decision to leave but that it was not the sole reason.

One official cited several issues and noted: “His biggest mission was on the tax cut bill, which he got passed.”

“One of the adults in the room has left. The markets will worry that this is a signal that we will definitely go ahead with these tariffs,” said Paul Mortimer-Lee, chief market economist at BNP Paribas corporate and investment banking.

Without Cohn in the picture, Navarro, an economist, will likely have a clearer field to pursue a protectionist agenda.

Cohn, who served in the White House for a little more than a year, achieved an early rapport with Trump and proved influential in the decisions last April not to label China a currency manipulator and to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement, instead of terminating it.

He was a driver of the tax overhaul enacted in December, Trump’s only major legislative achievement last year.

“It has been an honour to serve my country and enact progrowth economic policies to benefit the American people, in particular the passage of historic tax reform,” said Cohn in a statement issued by the White House.