The White House released a list on Friday of 28 heads of industry and business leaders who will advise President Trump on manufacturing jobs. This announcement comes after an initial meeting on Monday with industry heads to discuss plans and business concerns.
According to the White House, President Trump plans to hold more meetings with business leaders, organized by Dow Chemical chief executive Andrew Liveris,”to share their experiences and gain their insights.”
After the meeting, Liveris said that Trump is “not going to do anything to harm competitiveness.”
Mark Fields, Ford chief executive, came out of the meeting with “a lot of confidence.”
The list released by the White House included Dell’s Michael Dell, General Electric’s Jeff Immelt, Tesla’s Elon Musk, Harris Corp.’s Bill Brown, Intel’s Brian Krzanich, Under Armour’s Kevin Plank, U.S. Steel’s Mario Longhi, Boeing’s Dennis Muilenburg, and AFL-CIO’s Richard Trumka, among others.
Immelt leads the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness under President Obama’s administration, but it folded in 2013 after two years due to infrequent meetings. This became a topic on which Mitt Romney ridiculed Obama in the 2012 election, “Guess how many meetings he’s had with his jobs council?” Romney said in July 2012, “None. Zero. Zero, in the last six months.”
Richard Trumka previously made headlines for calling Trump a “racist” and “anti-American” while he was on the campaign trail. Trumka praised Trump on Monday after the withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, an agreement unfavorable to AFL-CIO as well as several union groups. In a statement given to The Detroit News, Trumka said he looking forward to “working on the bipartisan issue to ensure that our country continues to be a leader in manufacturing innovation, as well as the creation of good jobs.”
Trumka continued to say, “For too long, American manufacturing workers have seen their industries and communities decimated by misguided trade policies and inadequate investments in skills and infrastructure. I know that American workers are the best, the brightest and the hardest working.”
