. gary cohn out. president trump's top economic adviser resigning from the white house as a trade war brews the fallout from washington to wall street straight ahead. president trump threatening a new round of tariffs this time aimed at the eu. the full details ahead. sounding off, the biggest leaders in corporate america weighing in on the president's trade plan on cnbc we have full reaction coming your way it's wednesday, march 7, 2018. "worldwide exchange" begins now. ♪

good morning a very warm welcome to "worldwide exchange" on cnbc i'm wilfred frost. >> i'm seema mody in for sara today. it will be an interesting day for markets. >> let's look at them, moving lower after that bombshell announcement that gary cohn is leaving the white house. we are down 349 points on the dow. let's get straight to eamon javers live in washington with the latest good morning >> good morning. another week, another major white house departure. this time gary cohn, the president's top economic adviser. it was not an unexpected move and throughout the afternoon white house aides were cautioning us that if gary cohn were to resign it would be about more than the tariff decision made by the president of the united states last week. gary cohn had been opposed to it, was maneuvering to block it or take the steam out of it, in the end gary cohn left the white house last night, an

announcement that came after the market closed. the president on twitter last night saying we will be making a decision soon on the appointment of new chief economic adviser. many people wanting the job. will choose wisely what does all of this mean i talked to an administration official last night who had worked closely with all of these folks, and this administration official put it this way saying this is a new jersey victory for the nationalists peter navarro won the trade battle and now gary has given up it reestablishes the intellectual framework and personnel who were envisioned after trump won the election we can let trump be trump. so what they're saying inside the white house now, is that the president is more likely to revert to his nationalistic economic tendencies on trade and globalization, that means that peter navarro, the trade adviser who had been out of favor for so many months is now back in favor in a big way who are the candidates to replace gary cohn? one of them will be peter

navarro, another one will be larry kudlow, who will be familiar to viewers of this network. there may be other candidates, perhaps an internal candidate from the economic council. officials at the white house last night were at pains to suggest this was about more than the tariff issue, including the fact that the president and gary cohn had been talking for four to five weeks about exactly what gary's role would be in this administration in the wake of his success with the tax cut bill last year in the end after discussing a wide range of possible other titles and roles for gary cohn, they were not able to come to an agreement. officials are painting this as a mutual agreement >> clearly markets yesterday were flat or slightly positive, then futures sold off quickly once this news came out. given what you're saying there, that it was sort of expected that gary cohn could leave at some point in 2018, bringing that forward shouldn't

necessarily be a terrible moment for markets. so i guess it's what it implies for pollity going forward. we got a glimpse of that straight away when the president mentioned potential tariffs on the eu last night. >> yes i was sitting there in the east room he said he thought he might put in 25% tariffs on european cars coming into the united states german cars are something that is a theme that the president returns to again and again and again both in public and behind the scenes we're told there's a basket of new trade restrictions that the white house is working on behind the scenes it's not clear which of those will survive the process gary cohn was somebody who stood in the way of a lot of that happening. now that he will be gone, though not for a couple weeks, it will be easier for peter navarro, wilbur ross, some economic nationalists who favor protectionist tendencies, it will be easier for them to get

more of those ideas through the oval office and out into official white house policy. >> unless he brings in a free market pro business guy to take this position. >> you're thinking of larry kudlow, perhaps. what a dramatic choice larry kudlow, a free market guy, and navarro is more of a nationalist. what trump decides here will be telling. >> let's bring in tony fratto former white house deputy press secretary under george w. bush good morning to you. gary cohn, a former goldman sachs executive was seen as some what of a liaison, a bridge between wall street and the white house. the question is with gary cohn leaving the white house, does it suggest the president won't prioritize policies that are somewhat good or appealing to investors? >> you know, one thing that gary brought even more than just the relationship with wall street,

gary is a well known commodity he knew lots of people in economic circles here in d.c. and policymakers around the world from his role at goldman sachs. that wasn't even the most val valuable part of it really he was able to run a policy process at the nec that was disciplined. you knew that in a policy was going to be considered, whether tax policy or financial regulations or anything else, it would go through this process. it would emerge with some options. you could count on that. it was the ballast in the policymaking process in some stormy seas in washington. if you're markets and investors, that sense of reliability of what will emerge from the white house, if you had confidence in that, that's kind of gone away right now. especially if navarro will be taking a bigger role in the next period >> do you think that peter navarro is the frontrunner to

replace gary cohn? do you have other candidates you're looking at? >> it's hard to say. no one was expecting this now. he's in an ascendant position. if he's not the front-runner for that spot and he doesn't get the job, it's going to be a very difficult thing to attract outsiders to that job. to come into that job at the nec and see the way the tariff policy was carried out and peter navarro's presence in the white house will make it difficult to attract someone to come in in that situation if it is peter navarro, i think they'll have aedy cult ti diffi keeping that nec staff together. cohn was able to attract terrific people to the nec it's not clear if they say navarro will be nec director >> when you talk about peter

navarro, some of my reporting last night sittings that peter navarro's biggest obstacle to getting this job will likely be john kelly not many people knew this, but john kelly issued an order last year requiring that peter navarro cc gary cohn, his nominal boss, on every single e-mail he sent from the white house. that is that gary cohn got to see everything that peter navarro was doing. i'm told that this was done in order to keep peter navarro under control and close supervision. that's an indication that the chief of staff doesn't really trust peter navarro, doesn't want him to be operating as an ininplayer independent player inside this white house and wanted gary cohn to keep a lid on him so kelly could be an impediment to navarro getting that job on the other hand, navarro is clearly ascendant here he's been unshackled in a number

of ways, and it's not likely that anyone will be reading hly reading his e-mail in the days and weeks to come. >> in terms of the departure side of things, there's been references to the word of chaos, the haphazard way to decisions are made what is your view of the state of affairs inside the white house? how important is it that there are no other departures in the next month jared kushner and ivanka trump have been names mentioned and they may be calling time on their time in washington >> it is chaos inside this white house. there's a raft of departures some of that is the natural one-year cycle of these jobs these are high beenournout jobs. there's been a lot of drama associated with all of it. that drama itself could be an impediment to the president

recruiting some of the top a-list individuals that you might want to have working in a white house. people will look at that and say i'm not sure i want to go in there, it's six months of misery, i'll be out, too one thing i was struck by, as you were showing those still pictures you had a picture of gary cohn with rob porter. rob porter was the staff secretary at the white house who was famously bounced from the white house after this scandal about spousal abuse. that inflamed the white house for several weeks. rob porter's role in all this has not been reported, i think, as significant as it was in terms of his relationship with gary cohn. rob porter was somebody who controlled the access to the white house, controlled what pach ma paper made it to the president's desk, he and gary cohn were seen as close allies. that helped cohn moderate and influence the economic agenda items that got to the president because of his relationship with porter porter is gone, now cohn is

gone they're both gone now. now peter navarro and his faction of more nationalist economic advisers will have the upper hand and will be able to get more information to the president than they were able to get a couple weeks ago >> trump's circle is getting smaller and smaller. tony, what are you hearing in washington on what cohn's departure means for the republican party a number of people inside the senate were hoping cohn could dissuade trump from carrying through these tariffs on steel and aluminum >> it's ironic, gary is a democrat but became close to republicans because of his views on tax policy and trade policy a free market guy. that's where the center of gravity is certainly with elected republicans in washington and republican leadership on capitol hill it's still very much a pro trade party, economically liberal pro free markets party

so they saw cohn as an ally and as a force for advancing those policies and protecting against the worst instincts of people like peter navarro and steve bannon before him in the white house. that's gone now. you saw that in comments from speaker ryan yesterday, the majority leader mitch mcconnell and others that are worried about where the direction of policy especially on trade is going to go. it's very contentious situation with nafta there's concern that a modernized nafta will not happen there's a great deal of concern about retaliation, if the tariffs go into place. and what can congress do about that how can they influence it? one way they used to be able to influence it was by having this open door with gary cohn who was like-minded. if that's gone now, they're worried. >> tony, thank you very much for that eamon javers, thank you very much for your comments

as we check in on markets, i don't think we can overstate the comments we got from president trump about potential escalation of tariffs as it relates to the eurozone yesterday gary cohn's comments had a big impact on the futures markets, but those comments from president trump about potential car tariffs significant for markets. down 300 points on the dow nasdaq down 56 s&p down 25. steel tariffs don't really hurt the eurozone german car exports he s repres% of total exports that would be something that would be much more likely to lead to retaliation. >> as president trump looks at how he's putting trade into focus when it pertains to europe, the european commission is said to be meeting today on what type of tariffs they will put on u.s. imports. >> they are. we have a reporter there as well we'll hopefully bring you the

highlights or a preview of that meeting in the next hour or to quick look at the dollar it is down about 0.15% yesterday the dollar slipped about half a percent let's get more on the market reaction joining us is the head of european equities from fidelity international. what's the reaction to the latest news about cohn and the news of the past week about potential trade wars what's the reaction in europe? >> as you can imagine, this is another episode which is kicking off a phase of greater volatility in the market we've seen volatility in those particular sort of sectors or parts of the market where people see a direct vulnerability, but also markets more broadly. we had a period of volatility in february, it's calmed down, now that's recurred again and it's to do with the trade wars as you talked about, but also as we think about the consequences of the italian election

all of these things are leading to a choppier market environment. >> do you think the risk of a global trade despite taking place is a more realistic scenario now that gary cohn is out from the white house cohn was a key component to tariffs. >> what will be interesting is looking at the response from the eu they have an interesting opportunity to sort of frame how they might consider the language that trump is using. trump is prone to using very sort of explosive language, but in many cases sort of delivering what actually gets delivered or implemented is much softer the opportunity that the eu what is to sort of respond rather than to retaliate and say we're an open economy, we don't

believe in protectionism obviously they can't but respond to the language that trump is using. but that will give you an interesting sort of direction as to how this is going to sort of evolve over the coming weeks >> a quick comment on european markets and the economy more broadly. clearly u.s. equities have recovered relatively well from the recent pull back in volatility european equities have not including the german dax that remains in correction territory or close to it, down 10% from recent highs why do you think that is is it a sign of weakness in the european economy >> i don't think we would look at the behavior of markets in europe and see it as a sign of the underlying economic picture. a lot of the underlying economic data is quite strong it's to do more with other factor s that have been supporting the u.s., such as tax cuts, the performance of the tech sector as we know which is

much bigger in the states than in europe. part of the ingredients of that u.s. recovery has not been as present in europe. that, to me, will explain the difference rather than the view on the underlying economic picture. >> thank you very much indeed. we're getting started on "worldwide exchange. up next, more market reaction to that bombshell announcement that gary cohn is leaving the white house. we'll analyze the fallout. and we're on weather watch a monster snowstorm bearing down on the northeast we have the latest on its path when "worldwide exchange" returns. you know what's awesome? gig-speed internet.

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some stocks to watch today urban outfitters fourth quarter profit falling on a charge from the new u.s. tax law same-store sales rose 4% but margins narrowed. h & r block reporting a narrower than expected fourth quarter loss the tax preparer is seeing a higher volume of tax returns led by a 6% rise in those filed online it's up 6% autodesk reporting a smaller than expected fourth quarter loss they signed up more customers. the subscription revenue more than doubled in the quarter. still ahead on "worldwide exchange," bracing for snowmageddon we have a monster nor'easter. and all over the big move in futures. moving lower, 265-point move on

the dow to the down side after gary cohn announced he's leaving the white house. we go back to washington with more on the famollout when "worldwide exchange" returns these birds once affected by oil

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but slightly lower for the dow then things dropped sharply after the resignation of gary cohn, and we heard from the president an hour or two after the close where he did tout the possibility of tariffs on the eu, cars in particular so markets are concerned about elevation of a potential trade war. currency markets, we have the dollar softer against the yen by about half of a percent. about 0.2% softer against the euro it's flat against the british pound. we are on weather watch. the east coast bracing for a major winter storm the second nor'easter in just one week contessa brewer joins us live from new york with more on that story. good morning >> good morning. the salt is down on the roads. the city buses have chains on tires. so far we're not seeing snow we're seeing a lot of light rain we saw it briefly turn to big, fat wet flake there's a did not stick. but the wind is picking up

let's tell you what's expected throughout the day today new york city is expected to be the hardest hit with 8 to 12 inches of snow philadelphia could get between 4 and 8 inches boston, maybe 1 to 3 inches. providence the same. that's a problem this is the second storm, the second nor'easter in a week. there are still more than 100,000 people who don't have power from the last storm. if you're flying out today it could be a problem there's 3300 flight delays already this morning more than 2100 flight cancellations. jfk in new york city is the worst. jetblue having the hardest time there. this will be a day of what do you think? hedging your bets. these two storms together, $2 billion. so we'll keep our eye on business throughout the day here >> over 2,000 flights canceled as you pointed out according to flight aware any idea on how travel will be impacted in and around new york city

interstate highways and bridges? >> yeah. it's always just a real bet. you know they have the salt down, they planned ahead knowing the snow is expected north and west of the city it could be especially bad. poughkeepsie, amtrak runs there as well as metro-north train lines, that is at the edge, they're expecting up to 18 inches of snow 18 inches of the snow on railways causes a problem to say nothing of the new york state through way. it's a waiting game now to see who is getting the most snow and when that's an issue of the storm track and how low the temperature goes >> contessa, thank you let's check in on what's happening outside of the world of business. phillip mena has the latest on that attorney general jeff sessions is expected to announce a lawsuit that seeks to undo california laws that provide sanctuary for undocumented

immigrants the trump administration claims the laws hinder authority and is unconstitutional governor jerry brown tweeted jeff sessions has come to california to further divide and polarize america sad. a 20-year-old oregon man is suing walmart and dick's sporting goods for refusing to sell him guns claiming age diskrim anything thacriminatio discrimination they it's the first lawsuit to challenge the new policies. and the fish and wildlife service is reversing course on big game trophies saying it will consider allowing imports on a case by case basis the agency lifted an obama era ban back in november, but after widespread outcry president trump reinstated it even though he once called the practice a horror show. still ahead on "worldwide exchange," we'll discuss the

gary cohn fallout. his abrupt departurefrom the white house sending a shockwave from the white house to wall street. and don't miss the interview d th morgan stanley's chairman anceo james gorm egorman today 3:30g thing. you, us together for the rest of forever thing. buy one iphone 8, get one iphone 8 on us. more for your thing. that's our thing.

gary cohn out, resigning from the white house as a trade war brews.

the fallout straight ahead. doubling down, president trump threatening a new round of tariffs, this time aimed at the eu full details ahead. and sounding off the biggest leaders in corporate america weighing in on the president's trade plan on cnbc full reaction coming your way. it's march 7, 2018, you're watching "worldwide exchange" on cnbc good morning a warm welcome to "worldwide exchange" on cnbc. i'm wilfred frost. >> i'm seema mody. good morning to you. >> good morning to you great to have you with us. let's get straight to the markets following that bombshell announcement that president trump's top economic adviser gary cohn is leaving the white house. it saw futures selloff immediately. yesterday we closed up a half percent for the nasdaq flat for the dow the s&p somewhere in between futures pulled back instantly after that announced

we're still down this morning, 300 points for the dow let's get to ylan mui with reaction from capitol hill >> there's been public praise from top republicans, but privately there's fear for what his departure means for the gop agenda orrin hatch says cohn is as good as they come and his keen instincts, wisdom and talent will be sorely missed in the administration kevin brady said gary cohn served for all the right reasons, to change the direction of america for the better. he succeeded now that's a very interesting choice of words. many people feel cohn is leaving because he did not succeed, instead the populist faction within the white house is taking the reins now. republicans on capitol hill have been ramping up warnings over the steel and aluminum tariffs as eventually as yesterday afternoon. gop leadership had been hopeful

that the president was listening. >> there's a lot of concern among republican senators that this could sort of metastasize into a larger trade war. there's a high level of concern about interfering with what appears to be an economy that's taking off in every respect. >> now with gary cohn's departure republicans are not so sure this year was supposed to be about pumping up the poll numbers for the tax reform plan ahead of the midterm elections they're not counting on a trade war. back to you guys >> clearly there was some reaction we've seen since the steel tariffs were imposed by republican leadership in terms of specific reaction to gary cohn's departure, what have we heard and what are we likely hear this morning as people get up to not just gary cohn himself but the changing nature of what's going on in the white house? are republican leaders fearful

of that word that's been used, that chaos is ensuing inside the white house? >> i think republicans have gotten used to chaos inside the white house and they saw gary cohn addres their anchor, a lia between the gop leadership and the administration the fear is not just gary cohn leaving but key members of his staff. one of his deputies was at the heart of the tax reform bill i talked to one republican lawmaker who said she was one person who knew how to spak wea ways and means so they're losing people who have policy expertise, they're losing someone who had deep connections to capitol hill, even before gary cohn came on as nec director, he fostered relationships with democrats and republicans on capitol hill while at goldman sachs they felt he was a known

quantity, someone they could work with and they're not sure who will play that role now. >> gary cohn played a critical role in the past with tax reform is there a worry that with gary cohn out, some of the key revisions to the tax bill won't be prioritized by the trump administration >> i think it's more about selling the tax bill there are some is to dot, ts to cross, some technical corrections in the tax bill and tax law that republicans hope to move through, but that's on the back burner and had been on the back burner. the focus now for the gop is trying to make sure that the momentum they've seen in the polling for the tax reform plan is maintained through the midterms right now you're hearing republican leadership talking taxes and the white house talking trade. they're not working from the same playbook. they're worried this dissidence will hurt them going into the november elections >> puts more focus on trade as

well ylan, thank you for that story the markets are moving on news that gary cohn is leaving the white house. the dow is lower by 282 points in premarket trade let's discuss market action with the chief economist from finding parks ifg. this revolving door at the white house, is there just a lack of stability under the president who is in his second year as president, and still rolling out key economic policies, whether it's infrastructure, revisions to the tax bill, trade does this departure of gary cohn from the white house concern you? how should investors perceive this specific news >> any kind of turnover in the white house gets everybody anxious, especially when you have somebody who was a stabilizing force for what has been a turbulent administration. i don't think it should be a huge concern they'll find somebody who is a capable replacement. i think they'll continue to push

forward with tax reform. the escalation of the trade tari tariffs is a concern that's a direction we don't want to see things going. the economy has momentum there are tailwinds we have not had in previous years, but it's a concern. and i think the markets will respond that way today we saw this last year when there were rumors that cohn would resign an we saw 9 mthe markets start to tank on that news >> let's talk about the trade wars steel tariffs and aluminum tariffs are one thing if that escalates, and we heard the president last night touting tariffs on eu cars, how significant is that if we broaden out to a sector like that which would likely lead to the eu to issue a much more stark response than aluminum and steel. >> >> ththis is the risk, you he the eu saying we'll put tariffs

on harleys, bourbon, oranges, targeting some of trump's supporters, then trump comes out and says we'll just tax autos. that's a huge export for the eurozone, for germany specifically, 20% of their exports to the u.s so that's -- we have a $65 billion trade deficit with germany. these have the potential to become damaging. when you escalate them, i think in a moment where the u.s. economy finally has a lot of tailwind behind it, you have this looming issue, which hopefully cooler heads will prevail. certainly it's a risk. >> how big a risk? >> big if we saw imports on german autos or european autos, does that undermine your gdp forecast for the year where is it now and was kind of amount would you have to lower it by? >> we came in at 2.8 we bumped it up to 3% after

congress raised their budget caps and increased spending for '18 and '19. we're at 3% for the year i don't know that it would cause us to cut it meaningfully. certainly it would over the course of a couple years, it would drag enough that it would have a substantial impact. it wouldn't send us into recession per se i think it's a big enough concern, when you get rid of impact of the tax cuts this year, the impact of elevated government spending, the impact of low rates, record high stock prices that we're coming -- the short-term momentum we have, we still have a fairly fragile economy. we still are in a 2% any so anything that causes any kind of damage can be -- very quickly can send you into correction or recession type environment i don't think that's going to be the case but we have to remember once we get through these years, if this stuff is still going on, it has the potential to turn things

around quickly >> it puts more focus on central bank policy with that ecb meeting tomorrow craig, thank you very much for joining us oprah winfrey has sold some of her stake in weight watchers. the s.e.c. filing shows the sale amounts to about a quarter of her holdings winfrey said the move is aimed at balancing her investments and has nothing to do with her view on the company of which they serves as a board member. ross stores reporting better than expected fourth quarter results. the retail chain is taking a cautious view this year citing a competitive environment. korn/ferry's beat wall street estimates the staffing experts expect current results to come in above estimates. investors closely watching

the markets following gary cohn's resignation from the white house. chwodwe lysis on "rlid exange" when we come back.

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we sold off significantly after the close on the news that gary cohn was resigning from the white house. we heard from president trump soon after that where he touted potential tariffs on eu car exports to the united states we are expected to hear from the eu trade commissioner any minute now. markets reacting to that fear of escalating trade wars. yields have ticked up a bit so far this week, back to that 2.9% level. 2.86 today currency board for you, dollar lost a half percent yesterday. losing some ground today against the yen. not losing too much ground against the euro it's flat against the british pound. we did see sizable losses in asia overnight, responsing or reacting to that news that gary cohn is leaving the white house. in europe in early trade we are lower. still ahead, trade turmoil

some of corporate america's biggest names sounding off on a trade war. and we're diving into the opinion pages. gary cohn's surprised white house departure dominating the headlines. our must-reads cominupg

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it's ban retail wreck. target missing the mark on higher spending on digital investments. urban outfitters taking a big hit on the u.s. tax law. let's bring in stacey widlitz, a cnbc contributor good morning to you. clearly some people have felt we got through the worst of the retail issues for traditional retailers. q4 was strong. are we discovering in terms of the share price performance, are we discovering that share price

performance was too soon >> absolutely. it is a retail wreck we have this huge run at the end of the year as everybody was all excited with the tax euphoria, and traffic was better in retail however now you're looking at the stocks expectations are way up. in addition the looming issue of e-commerce is becoming a bigger percentage of the mix at a lower profitability is now coming front and center we heard that from walmart, from target, and from urban outfitters last night. >> has it been all bad news for retail gap showing strong margin expansion and best buy with better than expected results as its online strategy seems to be paying off >> yes, again, we saw certainly the consumer was stronger during the holiday. we had this amazing setup. it was the weather it was the calendar, there are strong spots best buy, consumer electronics

as the competition has gone out of business. they have done an amazing job embracing e-commerce gap has incredibly easy comparisons for their main brand and old navy is doing well certainly there are names doing well overall we have these inflated expectations going into q4 watch out as we head into the end of the year, most of these companies are talking about back half stories we have to see the results >> stacey widlitz, thank you very much for that let's look at the broader market fut chour ures pointing down 30t plus for the dow that after gary cohn resigned, and after president trump took aim at the european union.

>> the european union has been particularly tough on the united states they make it almost impossible for us to do business with them, yet they send us cars and everything else back into the united states, and they can do whatever they'd like, but if they do that, then we put a big tax of 25% on their cars believe me, they won't be doing it long. >> we expect to hear from the european union within the next few minutes, particularly the trade commissioner willem marx is live in brussels with what we can expect when the european union responds to president trump. >> that's right. we'll hear from the swedish commissioner for trade in brussels she is expected to outline some targeted tariffs and taxes they may try to inflict on u.s. products coming into the european union in response to those proposed measures from the trump white house.

they're looking at 2.8 billion euros, around 3$3.5 billion worh of goods split up between three areas. one is steel, in response to the what the trump white house proposed another is focused on consumer goods, so shirts, jeans, motor bikes, and then looking at corn, rice, cranberries and orange juice. we will hear from her about some of those details hopefully also we heard from jean-claude juncker saying he doesn't like to use the phrase trade war, but he believes the u.s.'s behavior has been war-like. christine lagarde saying a trade war is in nobody's interest. they made it clear they do not buy the justification for the tariffs, that of internal security, national security interests. they're claiming that's not realistic given that europe is a

strategic ally of europe >> what do you reckon the e ushgush u's response will be to the resignation of gary cohn >> this is one of the most stable cities in terms of apoins me appointments and power jean-claude junk hear been ckern the job for a long time. we have not seen this since the bush presidency in 2002 and 2003, when similar steel tariffs were suggested and then the wto got the white house to back down we'll see what happens this time >> willem marx, thank you very much sticking on the topic of trade, some of the biggest leaders in corporate america sounding off on the growing

threat of a trade war. it played out on cnbc. here's the view from the corner office >> i don't like the concept of putting tariffs. if you want to do surgical actions, do surgical actions, but doing broad tariffs is not good >> if you get into a trade war with retaliatory action and it goes into things like apparel t could dampen the effect and hurt the momentum we have now >> the levels of imports and the circumstances of imports are threatening not only our internal economy but our national security. >> the steel and aluminum tariffs were just wrapping up a $30 billion construction effort. we don't think it will have a meaning impact on our business, but as an american i would hate to see a trade war with our customers or counterparties. >> our trade partners in mexico and canada it's so clearly in the interest of the united

states to have trading relations with both of those countries,. >> we would have chosen option number two, targeted tariffs with some quotas, though we're not keen on the quotas, but we would arc september th would accept that. >> we have plans for expansion in the united states >> i'm suggesting that we stop playing tit-for-tat, get our blood pressure to go back to normal and find a way to resolve this issue we don't need to escalate that into a full-blown trade war. >> we will hear much more about the trade tariffs at 8:00 a.m. eastern time with commerce secretary wilbur ross. that will be must-see television and get his take on gary cohn's departure from the white house. cohn's exit is the big focus in the must-reads. my pick is from the "wall street journal. it's called the cohn departure the board writes mr. cohn leaves

behind a strong legacy he pushed hard for deregulatory inishives that produced strong growth he ran point for the white house on the big tax cut bill. addre as important he assembled a first-rate team of advisers not just on taxes but also healthcare and infrastructure. so the editorial board at the "wall street journal" see cohn's resignation as a negative for the white house. >> the new york sometimes one, that does frame it similarly, but it goes through some of the particular achievements and criticizes gary cohn more than the "wall street journal" version of events. well worth looking at that let's check in on the markets. futures are sharply lower. we're down 341 points. we saw futures sell off quickly after the close when that news of cohn's departure hit. down 28 points on the s&p. the nasdaq down 63, as well as

the departure we got a hin of how it could affect future policy when president trump in a press conference at about 5:30 p.m. last night did tout the possibility of increasing tariffs against the eu, particularly on eu cars if the eu were to respond to the steel tariffs. we'll hear from the eu trade commissioner any minute now to hear about a potential eu response >> this heightened rhetoric from the eu, they're not willing to back down. they will play this tit-for-tat approach and participate in this global trade dispute we're seeing play out in washington. >> we'll get more perspective on "squawk box," wilbur ross at 8:00 a.m. today. today i will be sitting down with james gorman. great time to speak to him amidst this market turmoil that's it for "worldwide exchange." we'll look at futures again as we head out. we are expected to open lower.

if it's just gary cohn, you could see this as a buying opportunity. he was expected to depart at some point in 2018 maybe it's a buying opportunity. "squawk box" picks up the kwanizatikwa conversation on the other side of the break you know what's awesome? gig-speed internet.

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gary cohn is out president trump's top economic adviser resigning from the white house. the fallout from washington to wall street is straight ahead. president trump threatening a new round of tariffs this time aimed at europe. and the east coast bracing for its second powerful winter storm in less than a week. i'll try to stay until 9:00. can't guarantee anything it's okay now. we have the updated forecast and the projected impact on business and travel on this march 7, 2018 "squawk box" begins now.

♪ live from new york where business never sleeps, this is "squawk box." good morning, everybody. welcome to "squawk box" here on cnbc we are live from the nasdaq market site in times square. i'm becky quick along with joe kernen and mike santoli. let's look at the u.s. equity futures. you can see the dow futures are indicated down down by about 335 points big point number to look at when you come in in the morning s&p off by 29. nasdaq down by 65. a lot of this happening, it started yesterday when we got the news, this started in the after-hours market yesterday you can tie this back to the news that gary cohn is leaving, you can try to figur