WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump met with about a dozen corporate leaders Friday at the White House, and some in attendance had planned to press him on his executive order upending the country's refugee program.
Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk said in a statement ahead of the meeting that he and others "will express our objections to the recent executive order on immigration and offer suggestions for changes to the policy."
The divisive policy prompted Uber CEO Travis Kalanick to quit the council Thursday night, according to an internal memo obtained by The Associated Press.
Kalanick wrote to his employees that he'd spoken with Trump on Thursday to "let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. Joining the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that."
Disney CEO Bob Iger didn't attend either; instead he will be at a company board meeting in California, according to a person close to Iger who requested anonymity to discuss the CEO's schedule.
Led by Stephen Schwarzman, chairman and chief executive of the private equity group Blackstone, the council has about 15 members, including the leaders of Wal-Mart, JP Morgan, the Cleveland Clinic and Pepsi.
Vice President Mike Pence and many top White House aides joined Trump to welcome the panel.
Schwarzman said at the beginning of the forum that its purpose is to "advise the government on the areas where we could do things a lot better in our country, for all Americans."
"We are going to cover the immigration thing, we are going to cover regulatory relief, we are going to cover tax and trade, women in the work place, infrastructure," Schwarzman said.
Public outcry about Trump — specifically his executive order suspending the country's refugee program and halting other aspects of immigration — has put some business leaders in an uncomfortable spot.
Uber, a ride-sharing company popular in urban, largely Democratic areas, has been buffeted all week by boycott campaigns that began when people perceived it as trying to break a taxi strike to and from New York's John F. Kennedy Airport that was in response to the executive order.
Kalanick condemned the executive order and has contributed to relief groups, but calls for a boycott had continued. One woman urging boycotts for all companies tied to Trump said only total resignation from the Trump business forum would satisfy her.
"This is not a 'seat at the table' moment. This is a flip-the-table moment," said Shannon Coulter, one of the organizers of the anti-Trump social media campaign "Grab Your Wallet."