Chemical and pharma bosses quit US manufacturing council
President Trump disbands the group after multiple advisers resign in protest against his stance on racism
US president Donald Trump has disbanded the American Manufacturing Council, which advises on manufacturing growth, and the Strategy and Policy Forum, which advises on the economy, after a mass resignation of their members.
The exodus was led by Kenneth Frazier, chief executive of pharmaceutical group Merck & Co, and the sole African American member of the manufacturing council. His resignation followed Trump’s response to intense violence and one death at a white nationalist rally on 13 August at the University of Virginia (UVA). The fatality and 19 injuries were caused when a white supremacy sympathiser deliberately drove a car into a crowd of counter-protesters, and Trump drew widespread anger when he suggested that ‘many sides’ were to blame for the brutal clash.