Former Goldman Sachs executive Gary Cohn has resigned his post as the director of Donald Trump’s National Economic Council.

Described as an "economic-policy powerhouse" by the Wall Street Journal, Cohn has long been perceived as the economic policy brains of the Trump administration.

Mr Cohn’s departure comes on the heels of President Trump’s controversial decision to levy tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

In the wake of Mr Cohn’s resignation President Trump told the New York Times: “Gary has been my chief economic adviser and did a superb job in driving our agenda, helping to deliver historic tax cuts and reforms and unleashing the American economy once again. He is a rare talent, and I thank him for his dedicated service to the American people.”

Mr Cohn joins a list of over twenty high-profile departures from the Trump White House, including Josh Raffel, deputy White House communications director and an intimate of Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Hope Hicks, White House communications director, Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president, Steve Bannon, White House chief strategist, Anthony Scaramucci, White House communications director and press secretary Sean Spicer.

The president was bullish about finding a replacement for Mr Cohn, tweeting:

Will be making a decision soon on the appointment of new Chief Economic Advisor. Many people wanting the job - will choose wisely!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 7, 2018

The dollar price against the yen was one of several key economic indicators that dropped sharply on news of this latest resignation.