White House economic adviser summons manufacturers to fight new tariffs: media

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump's chief economic adviser Gary Cohn has summoned executives from US companies that depend on aluminum and steel to meet with Trump this Thursday, in a bid to persuade the president to drop his tariff plan, media reported Tuesday.

Cohn, a veteran Wall Street banker and "globalist" within the White House, has been mounting a last-ditch attempt to head off Trump's new tariffs plan on steel and aluminum, according to Bloomberg reports citing sources familiar with the issue.

Trump announced last Thursday that the United States planned to impose a 25-percent tariff on steel imports and a 10-percent one for aluminum, as these imports threaten US national security.

"Cohn is arranging for a White House meeting on Thursday that would include representatives of breweries, beverage-can manufacturers and automakers, along with the oil industry. Trump is scheduled to attend the meeting," said Bloomberg.

Trump's new tariffs plan was based on an investigation done by the US Commerce Department. Cohn told colleagues the investigation report was "terrible" because it did not properly analyze the jobs that would be lost in downstream industries, according to US media Axios.

Trump's tariffs plan has also sparked criticism from the Congress. US House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Monday that he was "extremely worried" about Trump's new tariffs on imported steel and aluminum and urged the president not to move forward with the plan.