Speaking during a Cabinet meeting at the White House Thursday afternoon, President Donald Trump joked with outgoing Chief Economic Advisor Gary Cohn about his world view and strategy.
"This is Gary Cohn's last meeting in the Cabinet and of the Cabinet. He has been terrific. He may be a globalist but I still like him," Trump said. "And he is a globalist there's no question. But you know what, in his own way he's a nationalist. Because he loves our country."
"He's going to go out and maybe make a couple hundred million and then maybe he's going to come back, right? We'll be here another seven years hopefully and, that's a long time but I have a feeling he'll be back. I don't know if I could put him in the same position though, he isn't as strong on those tariffs as we'd like," Trump joked, with Cohn laughing.
The announcement of Cohn's departure came earlier this week when it became obvious President Trump wasn't going to back away from new tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Cohn is staunchly opposed to implementing tariffs, but is leaving the White House on good terms. His final departure date has not been announced.
According to the New York Times, Cohn could return to the White House as President Trump's chief of staff down the road.
The resignation followed conversations Mr. Cohn held with the president in recent weeks about the possibility of replacing Mr. Kelly as chief of staff, said people who were briefed on the matter. The president never formally offered Mr. Cohn the job, those people insisted, but Mr. Trump had discussions with him about whether he would be interested.
During an anniversary event with Homeland Security this week, current Chief of Staff General John Kelly joked about his job and said he was being "punished by God" for the obligation.