President Donald Trump announced he is dismantling two advisory boards after several corporate CEOs flew the coop following the president’s response to the violence in Virginia.
Merck chairman and CEO Kenneth Frazier, pictured right, was the first to announce his departure from the Manufacturing Council that Trump originated to create more manufacturing jobs.
Several more CEOs followed Frazier out the door, but approximately 27 CEOs said they were staying.
On Wednesday Trump announced that he was disbanding the manufacturing council and the Strategy & Policy Forum after days of flared tensions between the White House and business people.
“Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!” Trump tweeted.
Trump’s supporters criticized the businessmen for putting profits ahead of creating more jobs for Americans.
They targeted Merck pharmaceutical which has 76,000 employees in 120 countries with 31 factories outside of the U.S.
Frazier and Trump did not see eye-to-eye on bringing the jobs back to America.
Despite sending jobs out of the U.S., Merck’s drugs are among the costliest in the industry.
“Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President’s Manufacturing Council, he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!” Trump tweeted on Monday.
Despite resistance from the corporate world, Trump is pushing ahead with his promise to reform the tax code to decrease taxes 15% across the board. Workers earning less than $48,000 annually will pay no taxes under Trump’s bill.
Of course, the Democrats don’t want tax cuts or tax reform because that would help millions of black people and contribute to economic growth in black communities.
Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
