Gary Cohn, President Trump‘s top economic adviser, is resigning amid growing rifts over the direction of the administration’s economic policy.
Cohn, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said he was stepping down on Tuesday after weeks of speculation that he and Trump were moving farther apart on trade policy.
“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,” he said.
The relationship between Cohn and the president seemed to be coming apart in the past couple of weeks with Trump insisting on steep steel and aluminum tariffs, a move Cohn opposed and had spent the better part of the past year trying to stop.
While Cohn had telegraphed his intentions to leave, his exit came abruptly.
Cohn was noticeably absent from a press conference with Trump and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders took his reserved seat instead.
He is expected to stay in the job for several more weeks.
Though Cohn didn’t cite a specific reason for his departure, it had become clear that he and Trump were far apart on the president’s plan to impose steep across-the-board steel and aluminum tariffs.
“Gary has been my chief economic advisor and did a superb job in driving our agenda, helping to deliver historic tax cuts and reforms and unleashing the American economy once again,” Trump said in a statement.