President Trump on Monday met with the new director of his National Economic Council (NEC), Larry Kudlow, to discuss the administration’s economic agenda.
“Larry and the NEC team look forward to building on the successes of the President’s economic agenda, raising wages, and creating jobs across the country,” the White House said.
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Trump announced last month that Kudlow would succeed Gary Cohn in the role following Cohn’s resignation due to disagreements with Trump’s decision to put tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
Kudlow has most recently served as a contributor at CNBC but had worked in the Reagan administration and also advised Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
He has been skeptical of tariffs but says he’s fine with tariffs that target China. He’s also been a champion of the tax law Trump signed in December.
“The President is glad to have Director Kudlow on board, following decades of experience in both the private and public sectors, including at the White House under President Reagan,” the White House said in a statement.
Kudlow’s arrival at the White House comes amid good economic news for the administration, including gross domestic product expanding at 2.9 percent in the last quarter of 2017 and an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent. But the Dow Jones industrial average fell by more than 400 points Monday after China announced new tariffs on U.S. imports.
Kudlow and Trump were joined in the meeting by Cohn, White House chief of staff John Kelly and several other White House and economic aides.
The White House said Trump thanked Cohn “for his service to the hardworking American men and women who are seeing bigger paychecks and brighter futures thanks to the Trump economy.”