Trump Disbands Economic Policy Councils

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US President Donald Trump has announced via Twitter that he’d disbanded his Manufacturing Advisory Council – a panel of prominent US business leaders formed in January to advise the White House on policy affecting the creation and retention of US manufacturing jobs. Ford Motor Company had a representative on the council from the beginning, but according to The Detroit News, the automaker lost its seat in May when Mark Fields was ousted as CEO and replaced by former Steelcase CEO Jim Hackett. Ford had said that whether it would be allowed a new representative was up to the White House.

The Hill reports that President Trump simultaneously terminated the Strategic and Policy Forum – another council formed to advise on matters of economic policy. “Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!” Trump tweeted on Wednesday.

The decision to disband both councils appears to have stemmed primarily from business leaders’ desire to distance themselves from the president in the wake of his response to the events in Charlottesville, Virginia last weekend. Merck CEO Ken Frazier, Under Armour founder & CEO Kevin Plank, and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich announced their departure from the Manufacturing Advisory Council on Monday, followed by Alliance for American Manufacturing President Scott Paul and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka on Tuesday. On Wednesday, CNBC reported that the decision to terminate the Strategic & Policy Forum had actually come from members, who wanted to “condemn” the president’s statements regarding the events in Charlottesville, according to one member.

CNBC shared the following statement from members of the Strategic & Policy Forum:

JUST IN: Statement from business leaders that were part of President Trump’s strategy council, which has disbanded https://t.co/JOVqUwFe6Y pic.twitter.com/CT2a3XympM

— CNBC Now (@CNBCnow) August 16, 2017