White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett to leave post

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, is leaving his post.

President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday evening that Hassett, who had been in the position since September 2017, "will be leaving shortly."

“His very talented replacement will be named as soon as I get back to the U.S.,” Trump said in a Twitter post on Sunday night as he flew to Europe for a series of state visits.

Hassett’s impending departure comes at a time of drama between the United States and some of its main trade partners. A trade war is brewing between the United States and China, while Trump has vowed to impose punitive tariffs on all Mexican goods in an intensifying dispute over migration.

Hassett previously served as a scholar of fiscal policy at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank before Trump nominated him to the White House role in 2017. In the White House post, he worked with Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner on a proposed immigration plan that the Republican president unveiled in May and had backed a U.S. move to end waivers of sanctions for countries that buy Iranian oil.

Trump thanked Hassett for his work, and called him a “true friend” in the Twitter post on Sunday.

It was not clear when Hassett would officially leave the role, or who would replace him.

Hassett is poised to become the latest in a long line of senior White House officials and Cabinet secretaries to depart the administration since Trump took office in January 2017.

Others who have resigned or been ousted this year alone include Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, White House communications director Bill Shine and Small Business Administration chief Linda McMahon.

The chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers serves as the chief economic adviser to the administration as a whole. The council’s work is research-focused and less concerned with coordinating policy across agencies than the National Economic Council, a separate advisory body currently led by Larry Kudlow.