Under Armour Founder and CEO Kevin Plank said he is stepping down from President Donald Trump’s American Manufacturing Council. The CEOs of Under Armour, Intel and Merck have resigned from the council in the wake of Trump’s heavily criticized initial response to a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va.
“We remain resolute in our potential and ability to improve American manufacturing,” Plank said in a statement. “However, Under Armour engages in innovation and sports, not politics.”
Plank and Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel, both resigned from the council after Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier announced his intention to step down “as a matter of personal conscience…to take a stand against intolerance and extremism.”
Advertisement
Krzanich also was vocal in his statement of resignation, indicating that he “resigned to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues, including the serious need to address the decline of American manufacturing. Politics and political agendas have sidelined the important mission of rebuilding America’s manufacturing base.”
Trump’s council now consists of 24 members. The CEOs of companies such as Campbell Soup, U.S. Steel, General Electric, Ford, Dow Chemical and Dell are among those who remain. Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk left the manufacturing council and a separate policy council in June following the president’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord.
