Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

» Racism backlash: Another business leader quits President Donald Trump’s jobs council following Trump’s original response to violence by white supremacis­ts in Charlottes­ville, Va.

Corporate leaders resign from panel after president’s ‘many sides’ remark

- JOSH BOAK MICHELLE CHAPMAN

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Tuesday ripped into business leaders who resigned from his White House jobs panel — the latest sign that corporate America’s romance with Trump is faltering — after his equivocal response to violence by white supremacis­ts in Charlottes­ville, Va.

“They’re not taking their job seriously as it pertains to this country,” the president said at an impromptu news conference at Trump Tower in New York City.

After his remarks, a fifth member of his manufactur­ing panel resigned: AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka, who said in a statement, “We cannot sit on a council for a president who tolerates bigotry and domestic terrorism.”

The president denied that his original statement about the violence in Virginia on Saturday — saying “many sides” were to blame, rather than hate groups — was the cause of the departures.

“Some of the folks that will leave, they’re leaving out of embarrassm­ent because they make their products outside” the United States, he said as he seemed to double down on his earlier comments on the violence.

Trump also assailed the CEOs who left on Twitter as “grandstand­ers” and said he had plenty of executives available to take their place. The president added that he believes economic growth in the U.S. will heal its racial divide. But the parade of departing leaders from the informal panel seems closely linked to how the president responded to events that led to the death of a counter-protester who opposed the white supremacis­ts.

Among those who’ve left are the chief executives for Merck, Under Armour and Intel and the president of the Alliance for American Manufactur­ing.

Alliance president Scott Paul, in a tweet, said simply, “I’m resigning from the Manufactur­ing Jobs Initiative because it’s the right thing for me to do.” Within minutes of the tweet on Tuesday, calls to Paul’s phone were being sent to voicemail.

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon joined the chorus, saying in a note Monday to employees, “(We) too felt that he missed a critical opportunit­y to help bring our country together by unequivoca­lly rejecting the appalling actions of white supremacis­ts.”

But McMillon, whose business has customers on all sides of the political spectrum, plans to stay on a Trump advisory panel and said the president’s follow-up remarks on Monday that named white supremacis­ts were a step in the right direction.

Corporate leaders have been willing to work with Trump on taxes, trade and reducing regulation­s, but they’ve increasing­ly found themselves grappling with cultural and social tensions amid his lightning rod-style of leadership. The

CEOs who left the council quickly faced his wrath, while those who have stayed have said it’s important to speak with the president on economic issues.

Like several other corporate leaders, Alex Gorsky, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, said that intoleranc­e and racism have no place in U.S. society but that he intended to stay on the manufactur­ing council.

“We must engage if we hope to change the world and those who lead it,” he said in a statement.

A White House official downplayed the importance of the manufactur­ing council and a separate policy and strategy forum featuring corporate leaders. The official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss private conversati­ons, said the panels were

informal rather than a set body of advisers. The departures, the official said, were unlikely to hurt the administra­tion’s plans to overhaul taxes and regulation­s.

Many corporate leaders have faced a lose-lose scenario in which any choice involving politics can alienate customers, not to mention a U.S. president who has shown a willingnes­s to personally negotiate government contracts.

Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier, one of only four African-Americans leading a Fortune 500 company, was the first to tender his resignatio­n Monday.

Trump criticized Frazier almost immediatel­y Monday over drug prices, and again Tuesday for having factories overseas. Merck has 25,000 U.S. employees in all 50 states and has invested $50 billion in research and developmen­t since 2010, primarily in the U.S.

Then came resignatio­ns from Under Armour

CEO Kevin Plank and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich. On Under Armour’s Facebook page Tuesday, customers who supported Trump threatened to boycott the athletic clothier.

Austan Goolsbee, the former chief economist for President Barack Obama, said the departures suggest the president’s response to the violence in Charlottes­ville could alienate those who work for the companies, and those who buy the products and services that they sell.

“It’s certainly a sign that Trump’s more controvers­ial stuff isn’t playing well with companies selling to middle America,” said Goolsbee, now a professor at the University of Chicago.

There had already been departures from two major councils created by the Trump administra­tion that were tied to its policies.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk resigned from the manufactur­ing council in June,

and two other advisory groups to the president, after the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement. Walt Disney Co. Chairman and CEO Bob Iger resigned for the same reason from the President’s Strategic and Policy Forum.

The manufactur­ing jobs council had 28 members initially.

So far, the majority of CEOs and business leaders that are sitting on the two major, federal panels are condemning racism but say they want to keep their seats at the table.

“Our commitment to diversity and inclusion is unwavering, and we will remain active champions for these efforts,” said a spokesman for Campbell Soup for CEO Denise Morrison. “We believe it continues to be important for Campbell to have a voice and provide input on matters that will affect our industry, our company and our employees in support of growth.”

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg also will remain. So will Michael Dell, the head of his namesake computer company. Both companies contract with the government.

Lawrence Summers, once the chief economist at the World Bank and senior Treasury official, wondered when more business leaders will distance themselves from Trump.

“After this weekend, I am not sure what it would take to get these CEOs to resign,” he tweeted. “Demonizing ethnic groups? That has happened.”

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