Tuesday 6 March 2018

Gary Cohn: Key Trump economic policy adviser resigns


Director of the National Economic Council, Gary Cohn, speaks during a White House news conference on January 23, 2018Image copyrightREUTERS
Image captionGary Cohn was director of the National Economic Council
US President Donald Trump's top economic adviser Gary Cohn is resigning, the White House has said.
It is the latest in a series of high-profile departures from President Trump's team.
There has been speculation that Mr Cohn, a supporter of free trade, was angered by Mr Trump's plans to impose tariffs on aluminium and steel imports.
In a statement released by the White House, Mr Cohn said it had been "an honour to serve my country".
The 57-year-old former president of the Goldman Sachs bank helped Mr Trump push through his sweeping tax reforms late last year.
However, the two were not believed to be close.
In August 2017, Mr Cohn criticised Mr Trump over his reaction to a far-right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, saying the administration "can and must do better". He was reported to have drafted a resignation letter after the event.
"It has been an honour to serve my country and enact pro-growth economic policies to benefit the American people, in particular the passage of historic tax reform," Mr Cohn said in his statement.
"I am grateful to the president for giving me this opportunity and wish him and the administration great success in the future."
Media captionTrump: 'Everybody wants to work in the White House'
Mr Cohn's exact departure date has yet to be determined, a White House official quoted by AFP news agency said.
In a statement, Mr Trump described his outgoing economics adviser as "a rare talent".
"Gary... did a superb job in driving our agenda, helping to deliver historic tax cuts and reforms and unleashing the American economy once again," he said .
"He is a rare talent and I thank him for his dedicated service to the American people."
Earlier on Tuesday, President Trump tweeted that there was no chaos at the White House but there were "still... some people that I want to change".
The White House has seen a string of senior figures leave since President Trump took office.
Last week, one of his closest aides, Hope Hicks, resigned. She was the fourth person to have served as the president's communications chief.
It came a day after she had testified in front of the House Intelligence Committee investigating possible Trump campaign ties to Russia, but White House sources said this was not the reason.

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