Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's former top economist Gary Cohn describes in a new interview a chaotic end run by two administration rivals to enact punishing tariffs on steel and aluminum that led to his eventual resignation.

Speaking to the Freakonomics podcast , Cohn recalled futile attempts to dissuade Trump from applying the new tariffs, which helped launch a global trade war. Instead, he said two economic hawks -- trade adviser Peter Navarro and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross -- skirted White House protocols to persuade Trump the tariffs were necessary.

"What happened in the White House is we got to a point, unfortunately, where one or two people decided that they were going to no longer be part of a process and a debate," Cohn said, claiming Ross and Navarro went around then-chief of staff John Kelly to arrange meetings on the subject.

"They were going to use a direct connection to the President to set up a meeting and call in CEOs of aluminum companies and steel companies to announce steel tariffs and aluminum tariffs without there being a process and a procedure to set up that meeting," he said.

The tariffs on steel and aluminum that Trump announced last year set off cascading trade moves. So far, the tariffs have not led to the President's desired reduction in trade deficits; instead, the Census Bureau said last week that the US trade deficit had hit a 10-year high in 2018, growing by $69 billion.

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