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| Trump disbands business councils as bosses resign | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| President Trump has said he is scrapping two business councils after more bosses quit over his handling of violent clashes in Virginia. | President Trump has said he is scrapping two business councils after more bosses quit over his handling of violent clashes in Virginia. |
| Business leaders left the White House manufacturing council after the backlash against how he reacted to the far-right rally last weekend. | |
| The clashes culminated in a woman's death and nearly 20 wounded when a car ploughed into a crowd. | |
| Mr Trump said the manufacturing and strategy forums would be disbanded. | |
| The decision comes as the heads of post-it maker 3M, Campbell Soup, Johnson & Johnson, and United Technologies announced their resignations on Wednesday. | |
| Mr Trump said on Twitter: "Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both." | |
| The strategy forum said in a statement: "We believe the debate over forum participation has become a distraction from our well-intentioned and sincere desire to aid vital policy discussions on how to improve the lives of everyday Americans." | |
| Businesses have been under pressure to distance themselves from Mr Trump over his handling of the clashes. | Businesses have been under pressure to distance themselves from Mr Trump over his handling of the clashes. |
| On Monday, he belatedly condemned the white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups that rallied in Charlottesville. | |
| But in a rancorous news conference on Tuesday he backtracked and again blamed left-wing counter-protesters for the violence too. | |
| Corporate chiefs head for the exit | |
| Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America reporter | |
| The calculus for business leaders working with the Trump administration has changed quickly. | |
| After the Charlottesville violence, Ken Frazier of Merck abandoned the president's manufacturing council and quickly drew the president's Twitter ire. | |
| At that point there was some media speculation - through unnamed "corporate leaders" - that the wise move would be to wait out the storm rather than pick a fight with the president. | |
| Companies like Boeing and General Motors had tangled with the president in the past, and they (and their stock prices) generally ended up the worse for it. | |
| This time was different. As more corporate chiefs headed to the exit, the riskier move - from a business as well as political perspective - became staying put. The president, despite further tweets and verbal swipes, was unable to staunch the bleeding. His rhetorical gymnastics on the Charlottesville situation only made matters worse. | |
| In the corporate world, there's always talk of "leading indicators" - tell-tale signs that help predict what's to come. | |
| Is the collapse of the Trump regime's corporate entente a sign his fortunes are in a tailspin? Or is the man who ascended to the presidency without their help perfectly capable of staying there now that they've abandoned him? | |
| Denise Morrison of Campbell Soup Co. on Wednesday said she could not continue to participate in the advisory panel after Mr Trump's comments. Activists had called on Campbell Soup, among other firms, to take action. | |
| "Following yesterday's remarks from the President, I cannot remain on the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative. I will continue to support all efforts to spur economic growth and advocate for the values that have always made America great," she said. | |
| Mr Trump had earlier dismissed the chief executive resignations, saying the business leaders were "not taking their jobs seriously as it pertains to this country". |