Economic analyst Lawrence "Larry" Kudlow appears on CNBC at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, U.S., March 7, 2018. (Xinhua/REUTERS)
WASHINGTON, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Conservative economic analyst Lawrence Alan "Larry" Kudlow has accepted President Donald Trump's offer to be his top economic adviser, the White House confirmed Wednesday.
The 70-year-old will be the new director of the White House National Economic Council (NEC), replacing outgoing Gary Cohn.
Kudlow, who graduated from the University of Rochester with a degree in history in 1969, began his career as a staff economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the 1970s before joining the Ronald Reagan administration in the Office of Management and Budget.
Kudlow was investment bank Bear Stearns's chief economist in 1987 and worked there until 1994, when he was fired due to a cocaine addiction.
Kudlow, who describes himself as a supply-side economist, spent much of his time in recent years working for CNBC and other media outlets, advocating free-market, low-tax and free-trade policies.
He expressed support for Trump, primarily for the tax-cut plan, during the 2016 campaign. However, he has publicly criticized Trump's trade policies.
U.S. President Donald Trump responds to questions as he leaves the White House en route to Mar-a-lago Estate in Florida after signing the tax cut bill into law in Washington D.C., the United States, on Dec. 22, 2017. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
Like Cohn, Kudlow also opposed Trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports earlier this month. But Trump said Tuesday that Kudlow has come around to believing in tariffs as a negotiating point and that they agreed on most matters.
A steelworker in a protective suit checks the temperature of molten metal in furnace at the TMK Ipsco Koppel plant in Koppel, Pennsylvania on March 9, 2018. (Xinhua/AFP)
Kudlow's television presence is part of the reason Trump wanted him as the NEC director, according to Politico. The president regularly complains that he does not have enough talented people making the case for his policies on television.
The choice of Kudlow came after Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday, replacing him with Mike Pompeo, director of the Central Intelligence Agency.
It illustrated how the U.S. president is increasingly looking to "stack his inner circle with longtime loyalists" after more than a year of frustration with aides and cabinet officials who sought to "temper his extemporaneous and combative style," The Washington Post commented.
The NEC, created in 1993 by then President Bill Clinton, has become the most important economic policymaking body in the White House.
