--- description: Former White House Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn said Sunday that President Trump's tariffs on steel and aluminum "hurt the U.S." title: Former White House Chief Economic Advisor to Trump Says Tariffs 'Hurt the U.S.' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86266b3d147b8197/698a090c16d884981bc37984/Gary-Cohn.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Economy](/tag/economy/) ## Economy Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Former White House Chief Economic Advisor to Trump Says Tariffs 'Hurt the U.S.'  by [Sanya Mansoor](/author/sanya-mansoor/)  ## Sanya Mansoor Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 19, 2020 5:31 PM CUT  Now former White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn speaks during a daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 28, 2017. Now former White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn speaks during a daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 28, 2017.Drew Angerer—Getty Images  by [Sanya Mansoor](/author/sanya-mansoor/)  ## Sanya Mansoor Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jan 19, 2020 5:31 PM CUT Former White House Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn said Sunday that President Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum “hurt the U.S.” and did not help the administration in trade negotiations, either. “I don’t think the tariffs helped us get to any different outcome. I think it has hurt the U.S. It’s totally hurt the United States,” Cohn said on CBS’s _Face the Nation_. Cohen stated in response to CBS host Margaret Brennan’s that he didn’t believe the tariffs changed the U.S.’ progress on the [U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement](https://apnews.com/62409ae884294d3e1d2a7c3c7ce5b1e2 "undefined") or [trade negotiations with China](https://time.com/5764359/phase-one-us-china-trade-deal-war/ "undefined"). Cohn also acknowledged his differing stance on trade negotiations to Trump, saying that they “agreed fundamentally on what the issue was” but not how to solve it. Still, he denied that their disagreement on tariffs and trade were the only reason he left the administration [in March of 2018](https://time.com/5190987/gary-cohn-resignation-white-house-loses-firm-voice-free-trade/ "undefined"). “I left the administration for a variety of different reasons,” Cohn said. > [](https://twitter.com/FaceTheNation/status/1218888485354065920) “The US economy is very strong, very solid. Employment growth is great but we’re missing a big component,” Cohn said. “We’re missing the capital expenditures from companies in the United States.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5767999/former-white-house-economic-advisory-tariffs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5767999/former-white-house-economic-advisory-tariffs/"},"headline":"Former White House Chief Economic Advisor to Trump Says Tariffs 'Hurt the U.S.'","datePublished":"2020-01-19T17:31:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T08:05:13.288Z","description":"\"I don't think the tariffs helped us get to any different outcome\"","url":"https://time.com/5767999/former-white-house-economic-advisory-tariffs/","keywords":["Economy","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86266b3d147b8197/698a090c16d884981bc37984/Gary-Cohn.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sanya Mansoor","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sanya-mansoor/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86266b3d147b8197/698a090c16d884981bc37984/Gary-Cohn.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn","caption":"Former White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn","creditText":"Drew Angerer—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/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/economy/","name":"Economy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5767999/former-white-house-economic-advisory-tariffs/","name":"Former White House Chief Economic Advisor to Trump Says Tariffs 'Hurt the U.S.'"}}]}] ```