Washington
The departure of Cohn, a former president of Goldman Sachs who had been an interlocutor between the Trump administration and the business community, is the latest jolt to a White House that has been especially tumultuous in recent weeks and unable to retain some of its top talent.
His resignation as National Economic Council director leaves the White House without a financial heavyweight whom business executives and foreign leaders believed had served as a counter to Trump’s protectionist impulses and as a moderating force in other areas.
Last week, Communications Director Hope Hicks resigned. In February, Staff Secretary Rob Porter was forced out over domestic abuse allegations.
That followed the departures of deputy national security adviser Dina Powell and Cohn’s deputy on the National Economic Council, Jeremy Katz.
Taken together, the departures diminish the White House faction of free trade advocates who hold more traditional views on economics and more closely align with Republican leaders in Congress.
Cohn plans to stay in his job for several weeks and continue to push back on Trump’s planned tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, which have threatened to touch off a global trade war, said a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss Cohn’s plans.
But Cohn’s influence on the president has clearly eroded. In the past week, Trump has said he will impose tariffs that will hit imports from Canada, Germany, Mexico, Britain, Turkey, South Korea and a range of other countries, threatening to escalate the penalties if any nation dares to retaliate.
This came after Cohn spent months trying to steer Trump away from tariffs and trade wars. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also lobbied against the tariffs.
But they were eventually outmaneuvered by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, trade adviser Peter Navarro and ultimately Trump himself.
Financial markets reacted negatively to Cohn’s announcement, with Dow futures diving immediately afterward.
“It has been an honor to serve my country and enact pro-growth economic policies to benefit the American people, in particular the passage of historic tax reform,” Cohn said in a statement. “I am grateful to the President for giving me this opportunity and wish him and the Administration great success in the future.”
Trump said in a statement: “Gary has been my chief economic adviser and did a superb job in driving our agenda, helping to deliver historic tax cuts and reforms and unleashing the American economy once again. He is a rare talent, and I thank him for his dedicated service to the American people.”