President Trump announced Sunday that Kevin Hassett, chair of the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), would be departing the administration.
“Kevin Hassett, who has done such a great job for me and the Administration, will be leaving shortly,” the president tweeted while flying to Europe for a series of state visits.
“His very talented replacement will be named as soon as I get back to the U.S. I want to thank Kevin for all he has done – he is a true friend!”
Hassett, the longtime conservative economist, has been CEA head since September 2017.{mosads}
He helped shape the 2017 Republican tax law and was a staunch defender of the president’s policies on a number of other issues.
Hassett was a longtime advocate of open trade policies, but in recent months he has been put in the position of defending Trump’s confrontational trade strategy.