Cancelling NAFTA would be a ‘catastrophe’: Trump’s new senior economic adviser
Posted Mar 14, 2018 04:01:14 PM.
Last Updated Mar 14, 2018 05:04:19 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
WASHINGTON – Donald Trump’s newest senior economic adviser is a big fan of trade with Canada: he’s pro-NAFTA, anti-tariff and doesn’t mince words while letting everyone know.
The White House is confirming that Larry Kudlow has been named to the post, replacing Gary Cohn, who resigned last week.
Trump had said he was seriously considering Kudlow, a former Wall Street analyst and current cable-TV personality.
The president says he wants someone whose views clash with his own nationalist impulses.
And that seems to be precisely what he’s getting: in his commentary, Ludlow has been scathingly critical of protectonist moves like steel tariffs.
In one radio appearance, Kudlow called the tariffs silly. He also said withdrawing from NAFTA would be a calamitously bad decision that would wreck the stock market.
He replaces the like-minded Cohn as head of the White House national economic council — and like his predecessor, is likely to clash with the more protectionist wing of the White House, which includes adviser Peter Navarro, and the president himself.
