Everett Eissenstat served as the president’s representative to the G7, G20 and Apec summits, and was the top international economic policy mind on both the national economic and security councils. He was the official left to sit in the president’s chair after Mr. Trump left an acrimonious G7 summit in Quebec early this month.
In his role Mr. Eissenstat, who was a key adviser to former National Economic Council head Gary Cohn and previously served as the top trade staffer on the powerful Senate Finance Committee, was a major player in discussions on trade and China policy.
A pro-trade Republican, he was seen by many in Washington as an important balancing voice to trade hawks in the administration — including Peter Navarro, the former academic economist who has become one of Mr. Trump’s most influential protectionist advisers.
His departure is likely to provoke concern over its potential impact on what has been an often vigorous trade debate inside the White House over trade policy.
But White House officials said Mr. Eissenstat, who informed the president and other senior officials of his decision to leave on Tuesday, would be leaving the administration in early July for family reasons and not — like Mr. Cohn — out of protest at any of the president’s policies.
“Everett was a consummate professional and a valued member of the White House staff. We will miss his deep expertise, commitment to duty, and skilful management of the National Economic and National Security Council’s international team,” White House chief of staff John Kelly said in a statement provided to the Financial Times.
Larry Kudlow, who succeeded Mr. Cohn at the head of the NEC, credited him with building a strong team on the council.
“I was grateful to have someone with Everett’s expertise and depth of experience on my team,” he said in a statement. “While we will miss his work on behalf of the White House, I know that he will continue to be a key voice on international economics.”