Former U.S. Director of the National Economic Council Gary Cohn blasted the tariff policies of the U.S. government on Thursday, underscoring the negative impact it is having on the U.S. economy.
"I'm anti-tariffs and I'm anti-trade wars," Cohn told an interview with BBC. "I don't believe you can win a trade war. I believe everyone loses in a trade war."
"In the farming community it's having a dramatic impact, (and) in the capital investment part of the U.S. economy, it's having a dramatic impact," Cohn said.
According to Cohn, the U.S. automobile and washing machine industries have also taken a hit as tariffs pushed up prices while lowering sales.
Referring to the effect the trade war has had on the Chinese economy, he said that "I don't really think it's hitting the Chinese economy."
Rather, the tariffs undermined Trump's campaign pledge to bring back manufacturing jobs and boost the U.S. economy, he said.
"When you build property, plants and equipment, you're buying steel, you're buying aluminium, you're buying imported products, and then we put tariffs on those, so the tax incentive we gave you with one hand was taken away with the other hand," he said. "So we have not seen the manufacturing job creation that we should have seen."
Cohn, a veteran Wall Street banker, had served as the White House National Economic Council director, Trump's chief economic advisor, since the beginning of the Trump administration.
He announced his resignation in March 2018 after Trump decided to impose steel and aluminum tariffs against his advice.
