Three CEOs quit Trump council over Charlottesville
WASHINGTON: The chief executives of Intel Corp, Merck & Co Inc and Under Armour Inc resigned from US President Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council on Monday, following Trump’s initially tepid response to weekend violence at a rally of white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“I resigned from the council to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues...,” Intel Chief Executive Brian Krzanich said in a blog post.
Kenneth Fraizer, the chief executive of drugmaker Merck and an African-American, said he left the advisory council because of the president’s reaction after the violence between white supremacists and counter protesters. Frazier cited the need to “take a stand against intolerance and extremism.”
The AFL-CIO, a federation of labour unions that represent 12.5 million workers, said it was considering pulling its representative on the committee.
The CEO of Under Armour, Kevin Plank, announced his resignation from the council in a Twitter posting. “We remain resolute in our potential and ability to improve American manufacturing,” said Plank. “However, Under Armour engages in innovation and sports, not politics.”
Plank was criticised last winter by some of Under Armour’s biggest stars over his support of Trump, comments that basketball star Stephen Curry echoed.