--- title: White House Loses Free Trade Voice As Gary Cohn Resigns description: Global markets reacted badly to the resignation of Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn—and with good reason. canonical: https://time.com/5190987/gary-cohn-resignation-white-house-loses-firm-voice-free-trade/ author: Alan Murray article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-08T12:13:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:34:35.898Z article:section: Ideas og:title: After Gary Cohn’s Resignation, White House Loses Firm Voice for Free Trade og:description: Global markets reacted badly to his resignation—and with good reason og:url: https://time.com/5190987/gary-cohn-resignation-white-house-loses-firm-voice-free-trade/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77099e5b8e4a46bb/69892a1622fb85e7dce24fee/gary-cohn-donald-trump-trade-tariff-economic.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump Meets With Members Of Congress On Trade og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: After Gary Cohn’s Resignation, White House Loses Firm Voice for Free Trade twitter:description: Global markets reacted badly to his resignation—and with good reason twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77099e5b8e4a46bb/69892a1622fb85e7dce24fee/gary-cohn-donald-trump-trade-tariff-economic.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # After Gary Cohn’s Resignation, White House Loses Firm Voice for Free Trade  by [Alan Murray](https://time.com/author/alan-murray/)  ## Alan Murray Mar 8, 2018 12:13 PM UTC  (L-R) U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN), Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), and Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn listen during a meeting between President Donald Trump and congressional members in the Cabinet Room of the White House February 13, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Trump held a meeting with congressional members to discuss trade (L-R) U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN), Sen. Todd Young (R-IN), and Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn listen during a meeting between President Donald Trump and congressional members in the Cabinet Room of the White House February 13, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Trump held a meeting with congressional members to discuss tradeAlex Wong—Getty Images  by [Alan Murray](https://time.com/author/alan-murray/)  ## Alan Murray Mar 8, 2018 12:13 PM UTC Global markets reacted badly to the [resignation of Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn](http://time.com/money/5188794/gary-cohn-resigns-economic-advisor-stocks/)–and with good reason. He was a critical architect of business’s biggest victory under Trump–the $1.5 trillion tax reform/tax cut–and he was the strongest bulwark against a trade war, the global CEO’s greatest nightmare. In the aftermath of the resignation, Trump took to Twitter to say he “will be making a decision soon on the appointment of new Chief Economic Advisor,” adding that there are “many people wanting the job.” One of the first names floated was Peter Navarro, whose protectionist views were kept in check by Cohn. Even if the job goes to a more business-friendly candidate, it’s hard to imagine that that adviser will have the clout Cohn did. While he and Trump disagreed on many issues, the President respected him because of his successful business career. It’s unlikely that a successor will have a similar ability to keep Trump’s protectionist tendencies in check. The trade fight may move to Capitol Hill, where House Speaker Paul Ryan and others are urging Trump to take a more “surgical” approach to his proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum. But for now, “urging” is all Congress can do. The law gives the President clear authority to impose the tariffs, without the approval of Congress. _Murray is the president of Fortune_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5190987/gary-cohn-resignation-white-house-loses-firm-voice-free-trade/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5190987/gary-cohn-resignation-white-house-loses-firm-voice-free-trade/"},"headline":"After Gary Cohn’s Resignation, White House Loses Firm Voice for Free Trade","datePublished":"2018-03-08T12:13:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:34:35.898Z","description":"Global markets reacted badly to the resignation of Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn—and with good reason.","url":"https://time.com/5190987/gary-cohn-resignation-white-house-loses-firm-voice-free-trade/","keywords":["trade","Business"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77099e5b8e4a46bb/69892a1622fb85e7dce24fee/gary-cohn-donald-trump-trade-tariff-economic.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alan Murray","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alan-murray/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt77099e5b8e4a46bb/69892a1622fb85e7dce24fee/gary-cohn-donald-trump-trade-tariff-economic.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Meets With Members Of Congress On Trade","caption":"President Trump Trade Gary Cohn Trade Tariff Economic","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/trade/","name":"trade"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5190987/gary-cohn-resignation-white-house-loses-firm-voice-free-trade/","name":"After Gary Cohn’s Resignation, White House Loses Firm Voice for Free Trade"}}]}] ```