President Trump’s top economic advisor, Gary Cohn resigning just days after Gary Cohn lost the battle over tariffs.
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US President Donald Trump insisted his White House was not in chaos Tuesday, despite a wave of resignations and FBI investigators circling his top aides.Trump decried reports of “CHAOS in the White House” as a “Fake News narrative” in an early morning tweet, which was created to reassure supporters that his administration has not careened off the rails. The Aluminum Association, a trade group representing 114 member companies with more than 700,000 U.S.jobs, told Trump in a letter Tuesday that it was “deeply concerned” about the effects of the planned tariffs and urged him to seek alternatives such as targeting China and other countries with a history of circumventing trade rules. What’s going on at the White House?
“When we’re behind on every single country, trade wars aren’t so bad”, Trump said. Politico has more on the backstory of their trade disagreement, and the Washington Post says Dow futures are down and Wall Street is preparing for an “ugly sell-off” over fears of a trade war.
While the steel loss served as the immediate trigger, Cohn had been planning his exit for over a month.
Stephen Bannon – Trump’s chief strategist, who had been a driving force behind the president’s anti-globalization and pro-nationalist agenda that helped propel him to election victory, was sacked by Trump in mid-August. But the multiple rollouts by the Trump administration failed to gain traction, often overshadowed by controversial statements made by the president himself. Now was the time to pull the trigger, especially given his frustration over the trade fight.
Cohn’s resignation also balances pressure from recovering risk appetites that followed Tuesday’s news of North and South Korea holding their first summit in over a decade, and that came after the South said the North expressed willingness to discuss denuclearization with the United States.
When Trump had scheduled a news conference on Tuesday, Cohn did not show up for the event despite a seat being reserved for him. The pair spent a good bit of time together during the day. With both Mr Cohn and Mr Bannon now gone, economic policy may be steered more by treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin and Mr Ross.
They all want a piece of that Oval Office. Nobody was really surprised. “He’s been an incredible boss and it’s been one of the most fantastic years of my life”, one NEC official said. Administration officials said Navarro and conservative commentator Larry Kudlow were the “top two candidates” for the job.
A source familiar with Mr Cohn’s thinking disputed that Mr Trump demanded loyalty on tariffs in the meeting or asked Mr Cohn to change his mind.
Cohn’s departure as one of the few moderating voices in the White House may also mean greater influence by hardline nationalist and protectionist forces and more disruptive policies down the road.
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The European Union is meanwhile said to be readying retaliatory tariffs with U.S. whiskey, jeans and motorcycles being tipped to receive higher import tariffs.
