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Trump confirms choice of Kudlow as top economic adviser

Television pundit Larry Kudlow will become the new director of the National Economic Council replacing Gary Cohn, President Donald Trump announced in a tweet.

"Larry Kudlow will be my Chief Economic Advisor as Director of the National Economic Council," Trump posted on March 15. "Our Country will have many years of Great Economic & Financial Success, with low taxes, unparalleled innovation, fair trade and an ever expanding labor force leading the way!"

Kudlow previously served in President Ronald Reagan's administration and has been an ardent supporter of free trade. He initially disagreed with Trump’s use of import tariffs, but the president said he likes working with people who sometimes disagree with him.

"We don't agree on everything but in this case I think that's good," Trump said of Kudlow on March 13. "I want to have a divergent opinion … He now has come around to believing in tariffs as also a negotiating point. I'm renegotiating trade deals and without tariffs we wouldn't do nearly as well."

Kudlow’s appointment comes as Trump appears to be adopting more hard-line rhetoric and tactics on trade, including with U.S. allies.

According to The Washington Post, Trump told a room full of donors that he insisted to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the U.S. runs a trade deficit with Canada, even though he did not know whether that was true.

"Donald, we have no trade deficit,” Trump quoted Trudeau as saying in a transcript of the speech published by the Post. "I said, 'Wrong, Justin, you do.' I didn’t even know. ... I had no idea. I just said, 'You’re wrong.'"

Trump also floated the idea of withdrawing U.S. troops stationed in South Korea if he is unable to get what he feels is an acceptable trade deal with Seoul, the Post reports.

Kudlow joins the administration during a period of transition. On March 13, Trump used Twitter to announce that CIA Director Mike Pompeo would replace Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State. Tillerson reportedly did not know he had been fired until he saw Trump's tweet. Several other top officials have also left or announced their departures in recent weeks, including Communications Director Hope Hicks and Staff Secretary Rob Porter.