President Donald Trump has disbanded two business councils after several CEOs decided to withdraw membership in response to Trump’s remarks on race relations and violence following a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
Trump announced the dissolution of the American Manufacturing Council and the Strategic and Policy Forum through a Twitter post Wednesday after one of the groups had reportedly planned to break up.
Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier was the first one to resign from the American Manufacturing Council Monday and issued a statement saying that U.S. leaders must reject “expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy.â€
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink also left his post from the Strategic and Policy Forum, while JPMorgan Chase & Co. CEO Jamie Dimon said he supported the forum’s disbandment.
Other executives who resigned from the manufacturing council before Wednesday include Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison, 3M CEO Inge Thulin, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank.
