Join today and you can easily save your favourite articles, join in the conversation and comment, plus select which news your want direct to your inbox.
Join today and you can easily save your favourite articles, join in the conversation and comment, plus select which news your want direct to your inbox.
Washington: US President Donald Trump's relationship with the American business community has suffered a big setback after he was forced to shut down his major business advisory councils after corporate leaders repudiated his comments on the violence in Charlottesville.
Mr Trump announced the disbanding of the two councils - the Strategy & Policy Forum and the Manufacturing Council, which hosted many of the top corporate leaders in America - amid a growing uproar by chief executives furious over Mr Trump's decision to equate the actions of white supremacists with those of protesters in remarks at Trump Tower on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump has fired Stephen Bannon as his chief strategist, removing the powerful and controversial figure known for far-right political views.
President Donald Trumpâs turnabout on the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia has rocked his administration, leading to rising speculation that some top officials may be looking for a way out.
Police kill at least 13 people in Manila on the third night of an escalation in President Rodrigo Duterte's ruthless war on drugs and crime, taking the toll for one of the bloodiest weeks so far to 80.
One Australian is unaccounted for and seven others injured after a van mowed people down in a popular Barcelona tourist spot, killing more than a dozen people and injuring around one hundred more.
Up Next
Barcelona terror attack: Spain hunts for van driver
Barcelona terror attack: Spain hunts for van driver
Spain mounts a sweeping anti-terror operation after a suspected Islamist militant drove a van into crowds in Barcelona, killing 13 people before fleeing, in what police suspect was one of multiple planned attacks.
US President Donald Trump says CEOs are leaving his manufacturing council 'out of embarrassment' for making products outside of the US.
Earlier on Wednesday, the chief executives of Campbell Soup and the conglomerate 3M resigned from the manufacturing council, as other business leaders faced pressure to take more dramatic action.
"Racism and murder are unequivocally reprehensible and are not morally equivalent to anything else that happened in Charlottesville," Campbell Soup chief executive Denise Morrison said in announcing her resignation.
The dissolution of the councils was a remarkable moment for Mr Trump, who has made his corporate experience and ability to leverage America's business potential as one of his chief credentials.
Trump, left,meeting with manufacturing executives in February, including Kenneth Frazier, centre. Photo: AP
It also marks a rapid descent for a President who has alternatively praised and attacked the decisions of corporate leaders, and whose policy choices on issues such as immigration and climate change antagonised them.
Many corporate leaders have still stayed close to the White House, in the hopes that, having a voice at the table was better than none at all, and with an eye towards winning favour as Washington has considered changes to the tax code and infrastructure spending that could be worth trillions.
But Mr Trump's insistence that blame fell on "many sides" for the violence that occurred in Charlottesville over the weekend, which included the alleged killing of a woman by a white supremacist driving a car into a crowd of protesters, seemed to push many chief executives over the edge.
Merck chief executive Ken Frazier, one of the few African-Americans represented among the business leaders advising Mr Trump, was the first to resign from the manufacturing council, and others have announced they'd be parting ways since.