Donald Trump: The many heads of upheaval

President Donald Trump at the Generation Next Summit in Washington. Photo / AP

The upheaval in Washington continues, with Donald Trump yesterday naming John Bolton, a divisive foreign policy figure who was an unabashed supporter of the Iraq war and advocates regime change in Iran, as his new national security adviser on the same day he announced huge tariffs on China and his lead lawyer dealing with the special counsel's russia probe resigned.

Bolton, who will be Trump's third national security adviser, was a United Nations ambassador under President George W. Bush and served in three federal agencies under presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Bolton is likely to herald a rightward shift in Trump's foreign policy and an embrace of more hardline policies.

His approach is more likely to be in line with Trump's incoming Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, who replaces Rex Tillerson, who Trump fired by tweet earlier this month.

Tillerson left the State Department yesterday, calling Washington a "mean-spirited town" but saying nothing about Donald Trump in his farewell remarks to department employees.

"This can be a very mean-spirited town but you don't have to choose to participate in that," Tillerson said.

Most of the Trump headlines yesterday related to talks of a trade war as he set in motion tariffs on as much as US$60 billion ($83b) in Chinese imports to the United States and accused the Chinese of high-tech thievery.

China threatened retaliation, and Wall Street cringed, recording one of the biggest drops of Trump's presidency. But he declared the US would emerge much stronger, much richer".

China responded by announcing a list of US goods, including pork, apples and steel pipe, it said may hit with higher import duties.

However, even as Trump was talking tough at the White House, his Administration moved to soften the sting of the metal tariffs, telling Congress that the European Union, Australia, South Korea and other nations would join Canada and Mexico in gaining an initial exemption.

Meanwhile, Trump's lead lawyer in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation resigned, shaking up the legal team just as Trump intensifies attacks on an inquiry he calls nothing more than a witch hunt.

The departure of lawyer John Dowd removes the primary negotiator and legal strategist who had been moulding Trump's defence in the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. It also comes just days after the Trump legal team added a new lawyer, former US Attorney Joseph diGenova, who has accused FBI officials of being involved in a "brazen plot" to exonerate Hillary Clinton in the email investigation and to "frame" Trump for nonexistent crimes.

Dowd confirmed his decision in an email to the Associated Press, saying, "I love the President and wish him well." Dowd said he made the decision voluntarily and he denied reports that his departure had to do with Trump ignoring his legal advice.

It already was a delicate time in Mueller's investigation. Trump's attorneys, including Dowd, have been negotiating with Mueller over the scope and terms of an interview of the President.

Trump has told reporters that he was eager to speak with Mueller, but Dowd has been far more apprehensive, and the lawyers have not publicly committed to making Trump available for questioning.

Asked yesterday whether he still wants to speak with Mueller's team, Trump told reporters, "Yes, I would like to." Dowd's exit nearly a year into Mueller's tenure threatens to undo the co-operation between prosecutors and Trump's lawyers, and may herald a stark shift in strategy as the investigation reaches closer into the White House and the president's inner circle.

Over the weekend, Dowd issued a statement calling for an end to the investigation. The White House and later Dowd had to clarify the statement, saying the president's legal team wasn't calling for Mueller to be fired.

But Trump has stepped up his public criticism of Mueller.

Trump, meanwhile, tried to put a positive face on the departure of McMaster, a respected three-star general, making no reference to the growing public friction between them.

Trump tweeted that McMaster had done "an outstanding job & will always remain my friend". He said Bolton will take over April 9.

The White House has said the president is seeking to put new foreign policy leaders in place ahead of a not-yet-scheduled meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

-additional reporting AP