LOSING BRAIN POWER
Groups that president formed to shape White House policy are coming up short on ideas
There’s been very little activity at Trump’s business brain trust in recent months,
NEW YORK— Elon Musk of Tesla and Walt Disney’s Bob Iger have quit. Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric and JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon have dissented.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s business brain trust — originally these executives, plus around 50 other chief executive officers chosen to help shape White House policy — has so far come up short on big ideas.
In fact, there’s been little activity for the strategy and policy forum and the manufacturing group, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified. After initial meetings early in Trump’s presidency — which the White House promoted with great fanfare — his administration hasn’t convened the groups for months or set firm dates for future meetings, according to the people.
As turmoil has engulfed Washington, some prominent business leaders, including several of these informal advisers, have begun to distance themselves from the president. Musk and Iger went even further, quitting in June after Trump withdrew from the Paris climate accord. Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quit in February, following Trump’s controversial executive order on immigration.
It’s a remarkable turnabout for the first CEO president, who pitched himself during the campaign as a savvy dealmaker who’d cut taxes and reduce regulations to unleash U.S. companies.
After vowing to impose business discipline on Washington and surrounding himself with executives, he’s presided over a chaotic administration that’s struggled to deliver business-like results. He has been pushing to cut corporate tax rates — an issue dear to CEOs — but the effort is log-jammed behind the Oba- macare battle and multiple investigations of Russia’s interference in the election, including possible ties to Trump’s team.
The manufacturing group spearheaded by Dow Chemical Co. CEO Andrew Liveris hasn’t met in five months. And the strategy and policy forum, led by Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, last convened on April 11, despite the president saying he’d like it to get together monthly.
“The purpose of this group isn’t for general discussion, which is OK,” Schwarzman said at the first meeting Feb. 3. “But the real purpose is to get things done, to advise the government as to areas where we can do things a lot better as a country, for all Americans, and de-bottleneck some things.”
Christine Anderson, a spokesperson for Blackstone, declined to comment. A person familiar with the forum said scheduling has been a problem, and the goal is to meet in the fall. Schwarzman and a handful of other CEOs from the group participated in discussions last month between top U.S. and Chinese economic officials and executives. The talks broke up, with the two superpowers unable to produce a joint statement.
Liveris, an outspoken supporter of the president, said after the February manufacturing meeting the executives would come back in two months with solutions ranging from rebuilding infrastructure to regulatory reform.
Rachelle Schikorra, a Dow spokesperson, said in an email the group had a “very busy and productive” second quarter. Some members contributed “subject matter experts” and engaged in “information exchanges” before Trump signed an executive order June 15 to expand apprenticeship programs, which the group discussed. She directed questions about another meeting to the White House, which hasn’t made any public announcements recently about either group.
“We spent the first few months of the administration meeting with hundreds of CEOs to listen and are now putting those learnings into action,” a White House official said. “The round tables and council meetings have directly impacted the administration’s policies in areas like workforce development, deregulation and tax reform. We will continue to meet with and engage with CEOs across all relevant policies.”
A lot has happened since April to sour the president’s relationship with industry chieftains. Namely, Trump announced June 1 that he would withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate, prompting criticism across corporate America.
In addition to the departures of Musk and Iger from the strategy and policy forum, other members of the groups also disagreed.
“Collaboration is a good thing between nations,” JPMorgan CEO Dimon told Bloomberg Television. “Obviously the Trump administration felt differently about that, but we wish they’d stayed in.” GE CEO Immelt tweeted he was “disappointed” with the decision, adding “climate change is real.”
Executives who aren’t in the groups also expressed concern, with Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein taking to Twitter for the first time to deride the move.
Meanwhile, FedEx Corp. CEO Fred Smith — who also isn’t in either group — is spearheading creation of an alternative tax-overhaul plan amid divisions in Washington over proposals the administration and Congress have offered.