Christopher Liddell, ex-Microsoft and GM executive, is strong candidate to become Trump's new economic guru

Christopher Liddell is under strong consideration to become President Trump’s next economic adviser, replacing Gary Cohn, who announced his resignation last week. An unnamed White House official confirmed previous media reports that Liddell is a front-runner, according to Reuters.

Liddell, 59, a former high-level executive with both Microsoft and General Motors, is the White House’s director of strategic initiatives. As vice chairman and chief financial officer at GM, Liddell helped steer the automaker’s $23 billion initial public offering in November 2010, at the time the largest public offering in history.

Besides his stints at GM and Microsoft, Liddell has held executive positions at International Paper and WME-IMG, a privately held company in the media, sports and entertainment industry.

The New Zealand-native also has a prior background in politics, having served as executive director of the Mitt Romney presidential transition planning team.

Cohn’s resignation as the head of the National Economic Council came after Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

Liddell is said to be close to the president’s son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner.

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