Scott Paul, the president of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, is adding his name to the list of executives who have resigned from President Trump’s manufacturing council, prompting new criticism from the president.
“I’m resigning from the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative because it’s the right thing for me to do,” Paul wrote in a tweet Tuesday.
Even before Paul posted about his resignation on Twitter, the president beat him to the tweet, writing some 15 minutes earlier, “For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!”
By departing, Paul follows in the footsteps of three CEOs — Merck’s Kenneth Frazier, Under Armour’s Kevin Plank and Intel’s Brian Krzanich — who resigned from the council on Monday following the president’s heavily criticized handling of the deadly violence that erupted at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend.
Frazier said in announcing his decision, “I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.”
Of his departure, Trump replied, “Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned … he will have more time to lower ripoff drug prices!”
The council was formed in January, when Trump launched the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative as part of his effort to create American jobs. At the time, the White House said the president would be “meeting with some of the world’s most successful and creative business leaders to share their experiences and gain their insights.”
Tesla founder Elon Musk left the manufacturing council and another presidential advisory group in June, citing his disagreement with Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord.
Here is the list of 28 business leaders the White House said were named to the council on Jan. 27 — we’ve used dashes to highlight the executives who have resigned:
Andrew Liveris, The Dow Chemical Co.
Bill Brown, Harris Corp.
Michael Dell, Dell Technologies
John Ferriola, Nucor Corp.
Jeff Fettig, Whirlpool Corp.
Mark Fields, Ford Motor Co. (now retired)
— Kenneth Frazier, Merck & Co. Inc.
Alex Gorsky, Johnson & Johnson
Greg Hayes, United Technologies Corp.
Marillyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin Corp.
Jeff Immelt, General Electric
Jim Kamsickas, Dana Inc.
Klaus Kleinfeld, Arconic (now retired)
— Brian Krzanich, Intel Corp.
Rich Kyle, The Timken Co.
Thea Lee, AFL-CIO
Mario Longhi, U.S. Steel (now retired)
Denise Morrison, Campbell Soup Co.
Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing
— Elon Musk, Tesla
Doug Oberhelman, Caterpillar (now retired)
— Scott Paul, Alliance for American Manufacturing
— Kevin Plank, Under Armour
Michael Polk, Newell Brands
Mark Sutton, International Paper
Inge Thulin, 3M
Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO
Wendell Weeks, Corning
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