Trump: Cohn could return to the White House

President Trump said Thursday he still likes departing top economic adviser Gary Cohn and suggested he could return to the administration in a different role.

“He may be a globalist, but I still like him,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting, which he said would be Cohn’s last before he leaves.

“He is seriously a globalist, there’s no question. But in his own way, he is a nationalist because he loves our country,” the president added. 

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Cohn, the former Goldman Sachs president, announced on Tuesday he would resign after losing a fight over steel and aluminum tariffs. 

“He’s going to go out and make another couple a hundred million and then he’s going to maybe come back. He might come back, right?” Trump asked Cohn, who was seated behind the president inside the Roosevelt Room of the White House. 

“Absolutely,” Cohn replied.

“I have a feeling you’ll be back,” Trump said.

News of Cohn’s departure sent shockwaves through Washington and Wall Street, which worried his exit could lead Trump to spark a global trade war with aggressive actions against U.S. trading partners. 

Trump was speaking just hours before he was expected to announce stiff new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.  

The president said Cohn might have to come back in a different role, because “he’s not quite as strong on those tariffs as we want.”