President Donald Trump confirmed Thursday that he has picked CNBC contributor Larry Kudlow as his top economic adviser and said the country is in line for a long run of upbeat financial news.
The United States “will have many years of Great Economic & Financial Success, with low taxes, unparalleled innovation, fair trade and an ever expanding labor force leading the way!” the president tweeted.
Kudlow is succeeding Gary Cohn, a former Goldman Sachs executive, at the White House. Cohn is leaving after a dispute over Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.
Experts say Kudlow is very qualified, having served in the Reagan administration. He’s considered a leading proponent of tax cuts and of smaller government.
Kudlow said that he has accepted the offer on Wendesday and said the U.S. economy was poised to take off after Trump signed $1.5 trillion worth of tax cuts into law.
“The economy is starting to roar and we’re going to get more of that,” he said.
Kudlow will join an administration in the middle of a transition period, with a number of White House staffers and top officials departing in recent weeks. Trump on Tuesday asked his secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, to resign as part of a restaffing initiative aimed to prepare for high-level talks with North Korea.
Trump seems increasingly determined to tax foreign imports, a policy that Kudlow personally opposes. Kudlow said he is “in accord” with Trump’s agenda and that his team at the White House would help put in place policies set by the president.
Trump has promised to reduce the trade imbalance with China and rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico. Kudlow declined to say what advice he would give the president on trade issues, saying instead that Trump is “a very good negotiator.”
Kudlow, 70, has informally advised the Trump administration in the past and he has spoken with the president “at some length in recent days,” so he is ready “to hit the ground running.”
Kudlow told CNBC on Wednesday that he was going to Washington on Thursday to meet with Trump. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the administration “will keep everyone posted” on when Kudlow officially assumes the job.
The Associated Press contributed to this article