Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council, announced his resignation Tuesday in what news reports describe as a protest against Donald Trump’s planned tariffs against steel and aluminum imports.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Trump asked in a meeting Tuesday if his entire economic team supported the tariffs, which recent reports indicate could be signed into law as early as this week. Cohn reportedly refused to answer, and soon after submitted his resignation. In a statement, the White House praised Cohn’s work for the administration, but did not announced a replacement yet.
A former president of Goldman Sachs, Cohn was known for his moderate approach to economic policy and resistance to protectionism, often clashing with “economic nationalists” such as Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross and senior economic aide Peter Navarro.
In reaction to Cohn’s resignation, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 200 points in early trading Wednesday, while Standard & Poor’s and Nasdaq fell about 0.5 percent each.