It was quietly shelved, according to sources inside and outside the White House, at the behest of former Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn, now Trump’s top economic advisor. Killing the order was a small victory for a White House faction that supports free trade and the global economy. “There are significant internal differences within the White House,” said C. Fred Bergsten, an economist, political advisor and founding director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics. At the other camp, ideologically and physically, Peter Navarro presides over a tiny staff as director of the newly created White House National Trade Council, which operates out of a large office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next door to the White House. After meeting with Ross last week, Myron Brilliant, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s head of international affairs, says he doesn’t see Trump’s trade squad pursuing “blanket tariffs” on imports.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 28, 2017 10:02 UTC