Kudlow accepts offer to be National Economic Council director

Conservative economic analyst Larry Kudlow has accepted the job of White House National Economic Council director to replace the outgoing Gary Cohn, the White House has said.

“Larry Kudlow was offered, and accepted, the position of Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and Director of the National Economic Council,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement on Wednesday, Xinhua reported.

“We will work to have an orderly transition and will keep everyone posted on the timing of him officially assuming the role,” she said.

Cohn, a veteran Wall Street banker, last week announced his resignation from the post of top White House economic advisor as he failed to head off US President Donald Trump’s new tariff plan on imports of steel and aluminium.

Kudlow, a free trade advocate and CNBC commentator, has also publicly criticised the President’s tariff plan, but Trump said they agreed on most matters.

“I’m looking at Larry Kudlow very strongly. I’ve known him a long time,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.

“He now has come around to believing in tariffs as also a negotiating point. I’m renegotiating trade deals and without tariffs we wouldn’t do nearly as well,” Trump said.

The move came after Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday, who would be replaced by Mike Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).