Trump economic adviser Cohn quits after tariffs dispute

'WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Gary Cohn, the top economic adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump and a voice for Wall Street in the White House, said on Tuesday he would resign, a move that came after he lost a fight over Trump’s plans for hefty steel and aluminum import tariffs.

The departure of Cohn, the National Economic Council director, expected to be finalized in a few weeks, will blow a hole in Trump’s advisory team at a time when the economy is growing but stock markets are experiencing surges of volatility.'

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...ohn-quits-after-tariffs-dispute-idUSKCN1GI2ZS

And so leaves one of the few remaining people in the Trump White House who had a clue about macroeconomics.

I guarantee you the markets will NOT like this.

 

Stock futures point to sharply lower opening after Wall Street-friendly Cohn resigns

- Dow Jones industrial average futures indicated an open of 300 points lower.
- Industrials stocks Caterpillar and Boeing fell more than 2 percent in extended trading
- Gary Cohn, former Goldman Sachs president and COO, was seen as supporting more business-friendly policies.

'Dow Jones industrial average futures indicated an open of 300 points lower, while the S&P 500 futures implied a decline of more than 1 percent. Industrials stocks Caterpillar and Boeing fell more than 2 percent in extended trading.

• Cohn, former Goldman Sachs president and COO, was seen as supporting more business-friendly policies, especially in the wake of President Donald Trump's surprise announcement of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports on Thursday.
  
  The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) fell more than 1 percent in after-hours trading Tuesday.'
• SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) after-hours performance:'
• 
• https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/06/sto...-after-wall-street-friendly-cohn-resigns.html

 

And before die hard Trump supporters say that 'Trump knows what he is doing'?

please ask yourselves this - for the good of America - who knows more about macroeconomics? A guy who inherited his wealth and whose corporations have declared bankruptcy at least 5 times or the combined intellect of Wall Street.

I guarantee you most of you do not have 1/1,000'th of the economics experience and schooling of the big wigs on Wall Street. So just maybe they are right and you (and your hero Trump) are wrong on these insane tariffs?

 

Sorry - I did not see the other thread with this headline.

 

Edit : Ach sorry all this got long

Your opinions arrogance is only surpassed by its inability to apply critical thinking skills to the big picture.

If your precious economist is such a crybaby and his President not agreeing with him on one issue makes him quit then good riddance. The man is weak. Regardless of his expertise.

If my life depended on it and I had to choose whether your opinion was right on the single issue of these specific tariffs I would agree with you.

I also believe your innate dislike for President Trump is clouding your ability to look at how this man manipulates everyone and everything around him to get what he wants. He learned how to do this via that vast wealth he inherited you disdain and a lifetime of doing business and making 1000s of deals.

I am starting to see a trend of how he.. operates mentally in every issue that this forum has discussed on every issue from NK to DACA to this and everything in between.

President Trump is bullying everyone into compromising by offering everyone something. He is wielding the nearly omnipotent wealth and martial power of the United States like a battering ram on all kinds of issues.

DACA? Since when in our lives did almost 1.8 million pathways to citizenship get put on the table by a GOP Congress?

NK as of yesterday has blown everyones mind by announcing that denucleurization is on the table and are willing to talk! Since bloody when?? Why?

These Tariffs he can rescind at any time or reduce or not but they did alot of things.

They put China on point about us being serious about not just our trade deficit to them but also NK... You think it's coincidence that Trump does more than talk about taking action about our trade with China that all of a sudden like out of a jack in the box up pops KJU saying he is willing to talk about nukes? I mean it's a 100% flip flop.

Then there are our huge deficits with Europe particularly Germany who is the keystone because where Germany goes the EU follows, and Trump is calling their bluff about retaliation. He will put Tariffs on their car exports to us. That would cause economic chaos for Germany and right now that is the last thing Merkel needs with the AFD continuing to grow and giving her a huge headache.

President Trump already in my opinion is on track to be the best President since Reagan. If he pulls off NK? Immigration reform? Possibly Palestine too? Reduces our monstrous trade deficits? He will surpass Reagan. The most loved? Never. Effective? If he pulls off half of the above he gets the title.

 

Saw this article in the local rag.

http://www.tribdem.com/news/editori...cle_83aeb290-1e55-11e8-a62b-8f72a23fe854.html

 

It's a typical Trump sales pitch. He takes credit for something that was going to happen anyway.

AHEAD OF LONG-TERM TARGETS

Cutting 30 million tonnes of steel capacity in 2018 will bring the total reduction over three years to 145 million tonnes. That will put China well ahead of a plan to reduce excess by up to 150 million tonnes by 2018 to 2020.

 

LOL...oh yeah....a lawyer surely would know more about this than almost all of Wall Street.



http://sandypundits.com/?p=2875

 

You don't think he has a point about the Chinese dumping steel?

 

Sure he does, but unfortunately Trump didn't target China.
Do you think China likes wrapping dollars around their excess steel?
Do you think this will be a net positive for jobs and the economy?

 

Interesting chart:

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43290969

Sounds like he's using it as a bargaining chip to re-negotiate previous trade deals.

 

I could almost believe that if Cohn hadn't quit.

 

Global stocks slump as key Trump adviser quits, stoking trade war fears

'TOKYO (Reuters) - Global stocks and the dollar slumped on Wednesday after a strong White House advocate for free trade resigned, fanning fears that President Donald Trump will proceed with protectionist tariffs and risk a trade war.

Spreadbetters expected European stocks to open lower, with Britain’s FTSE falling 0.7 percent, Germany’s DAX losing 0.8 percent and France’s CAC dropping 0.85 percent.

White House economic adviser Gary Cohn, seen as a bulwark against protectionist forces within the Trump administration, said on Tuesday he was leaving.

In response, S&P 500 futures dropped more than 1 percent setting the downbeat tone for Asia.'

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...r-quits-stoking-trade-war-fears-idUSKCN1GI33E

 

'Courtesy of Bloomberg, here is a rundown of some of the most vocal views this morning from Wall Street analysts, investors and traders.

'The last Jedi', from Citi's Fraser King

"While heavily-trailed in the press, the market is still mourning the sudden departure of Gary Cohn, the White House’s ‘lonely democrat’ – seen by some as the final bastion of tariff-free international trade. Alas, now the last Jedi has fallen, Trade Wars and a galaxy far, far away now all seems an awful lot closer than before."

‘Voice of Reason’, from Paul Donovan, chief economist at UBS Wealth Management:

"The departure signals the defeat of anti-protectionism, or reduces the influence of anti-protectionism."

"Any tax on trade, in any country, means consumers are going to be purchasing goods they would not chose to buy, at prices that are higher than they should have to pay, to subsidize less efficient companies."

‘Most Meaningful’, from Michael O’Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading Institutional Services:

“Of all the Trump administration resignations, this will be the one most meaningful for markets.”

“Cohn was the administration official financial markets had the most confidence in. This opens the environment up to whole new wave of uncertainty. The likelihood of a trade war just jumped dramatically.”

'Treasury Tremors', from Rabobank strategists led by Richard McGuire:

"We would challenge the oft-cited view that protectionism is bearish for USTs as it promises higher import costs (and, thus, inflation) while also portending a possible divesture of U.S. debt by China in retaliation."

"We would instead argue that higher import costs, in representing a negative supply shock will ultimately weigh on demand. Tit-for-tat trade measures, meanwhile, point to lower world trade volumes which, in turn, promises lower global growth."

Retaliation Risk. from Ben Emons, chief economist at Intellectus Partners LLC:

"Not only countries may retaliate, reciprocal trade is not a 1 for 1 trade, especially when tariffs are placed on high quality/low cost foreign goods that are a benefit to the domestic consumer."

"The favorable global synchronization theme from 2017 is morphing into a de-synchronizing theme that can impact markets negatively."

Faith in Earnings, from James Soutter, a fund manager at K2 Asset Management Ltd. in Melbourne:

“Markets will see this as another negative in the Trump presidency and will move lower on the news in the short term, but this doesn’t have an impact on the broader earnings growth story that equities are experiencing.”

‘More Chaos’, from Alan Patricof, a venture capitalist and managing director of Greycroft LLC who had backed Hillary Clinton against Trump:

“We need a grown up in the White House, that’s the problem, and it gets worse every day,” with the latest news indicating “more chaos.”

“The market doesn’t like uncertainty, the market doesn’t like surprises. All we’ve gotten for the last 15 months is surprises, and yet the market went up. At some point the market has got to be spooked by the fact that they just don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow.”

“I feel it so many times -- I Tweet it myself -- this is it we’ve hit the inflection point. But “the market defies me, then we get another crazy move.” But this time, “Gary Cohn has been a grown up in the White House, and now he’s gone.”

'Bark vs Bite', from Terry Haines, a managing director at Evercore ISI:

The narrative will be that protectionists “will be in the ascendant” and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, “the lone remaining ‘free trader,’ will be in eclipse.” Even so, “there is more bark than bite in the Trump protectionist story line of the last few days.”

“Investors should understand the Cohn departure as the end of his influence in a difficult White House, but not to overreact to it.”

'Rates Impact?', from Michael McCarthy, Sydney-based chief strategist at CMC Markets Asia Pacific.

“It’s clear at the moment the markets are likely to price the worst-case scenario on tariffs. “Markets are very concerned about the impact on global growth,” given the “potential for tit-for-tat” protectionist moves in the wake of Europe’s retaliation threat following the move on U.S. steel and aluminum tariffs.

“Higher interest rates could be off the table if this does escalate.”

‘Brutal’ Worries, from Johan Jooste, chief investment officer at Bank of Singapore Ltd.:

“The really important next thing is how do other countries react to this. If the response is fairly brutal, if it’s really strong, without Cohn there you’d imagine the White House reacts in kind. Then we get into the kind of thing the market is probably now starting to discount as a greater probability, which is not a good outcome for stocks.”

‘Grandstanding Behavior’, from Nader Naeimi, head of dynamic markets at AMP Capital Investors Ltd.:

“I view this as grandstanding behavior by Mr. Trump, with the aim to have more negotiating cards in his deck.”

“In markets, we are closer to a durable low than we were after the first leg down in markets in early February.”'

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018...n-wall-street-analysts-reacts-cohns-departure