JENNIFER JACOBS: Trump economic adviser quits over looming trade war
'Cohn is a free-trade advocate who vociferously opposed Trump’s plan'
President Donald Trump demanded economic adviser Gary Cohn’s cooperation on tariffs in a meeting in the Oval Office Tuesday - asking Cohn directly if he would support his decision to move forward with the plan. Cohn would not offer his support, according to two people familiar with the episode - and just hours later, the White House announced Cohn’s resi In a way, Cohn’s resignation as director of National Economic Council was exactly as Trump had predicted this week, telling associates that he expected Cohn to quit if Trump went ahead with the tariffs. Trump is expected to announce the moves - a 25 percent tariff on steel and 10 percent on aluminum - as early as this week. Cohn is a free-trade advocate who vociferously opposed Trump’s plan, so his views were well-known. But the moment in the Oval Office brought the two men - president and adviser - into direct conflict. Trump, during the trade policy meeting in the Oval Office Tuesday, asked for an update on the legal paperwork tha...
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