President Donald Trump is expected to name Larry Kudlow as his top economic adviser days after former Goldman Sachs executive Gary Cohn resigned, according to multiple reports.
The Washington Post reported Kudlow accepted an offer Wednesday from Trump to head the White House's National Economic Council. The president was expected to announce the decision to bring on Kudlow as early as Thursday, according to CNBC.
Trump told reporters one day earlier that he was "very strongly" considering Kudlow for the role.
Kudlow, a long-time friend of Trump's, was an early supporter of the president, Reuters reported. He served as an adviser to Trump during the race to the White House and worked with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin early in the creation of a tax plan, according to the Post.
For more than a decade and a half, Kudlow has been a fixture on the CNBC business news network, a pinstripe-suited conservative arguing relentlessly for tax cuts and a smaller government with tart sound bites. He previously hosted CNBC's "The Kudlow Report" and currently hosts "The Larry Kudlow Show," a weekly radio program on WABC Radio.
Kudlow served as associate director for economics and planning in the Office of Management and Budget during President Ronald Reagan's first term, according to his biography on CNBC.com.
Earlier this month, Kudlow and economists Steve Moore and Arthur Laffer penned a column for CNBC's "Kudlow's Corner" in which they criticized Trump's proposal to impose steel and aluminum tariffs. The tariffs, which Cohn opposed, were reportedly among the issues that prompted his resignation last week.
Trump has said that he understands that Kudlow disagrees with his position on the tariffs, according to the Post.
“We don’t agree on everything, but in this case, I think that’s good," Trump told reporters Tuesday. "I want to have a divergent opinion. We agree on most."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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