Manufacturing group leader with Hoosier ties among those to quit Trump's job council

WASHINGTON — Scott Paul, who heads the Alliance for American Manufacturing and was raised in Indiana, withdrew Tuesday from a Trump administration effort to expand manufacturing jobs.

"I'm resigning from the Manufacturing Jobs Initiative because it's the right thing for me to do," Paul said in a Tweet.

He joined the heads of Under Armour, Merck and Intel in distancing themselves from the administration following  President Trump's widely criticized response to white nationalists' rally at Charlottesville. 

A defiant Trump tweeted Tuesday that the business leaders will be easy to replace.

"For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!," he tweeted.

Trump later told reporters the CEOs were leaving "because they're not taking their jobs seriously as it pertains to this country."

"They’re leaving out of embarrassment because they’re making their products outside, and I've been lecturing them," Trump said, singling out Merck CEO Ken Frazier. "I want manufacturing brought back to this country so that American workers can benefit."

The manufacturing council began in the December, when Trump was president-elect, but formalized in January. It's chaired by Andrew Liveris, CEO of Dow Chemical, and includes top executives from Ford, Boeing, Dell, Whirlpool, General Electric and others.

Paul praised the creation of the jobs council in January, saying he was eager to help grow the economy, promote "Made in America," and to "put more Americans back to work."

The Alliance for American Manufacturing was formed in 2007 by some of America’s leading manufacturers and the United Steelworkers union.

Paul, who was raised in Rensselaer, Ind., was traveling Tuesday and unavailable for an interview, according to his office.

Trump came under criticism from within his own party over the weekend for not directly denouncing neo-Nazi groups in Charlottesville on Saturday. Instead, Trump blamed violence on "many sides," which some business leaders saw as inadequate especially after a man plowed through a crowd of protesters, killing one and injuring 19 others.

But after condemning white supremacists and other hate groups on Monday, Trump once again blamed counterprotesters on Tuesday, saying some of them were "troublemakers" and "bad people."

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank and Intel CEO Brian Krzanich announced late Monday they were leaving the jobs council. 

"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." 

Earlier Monday, Merck's Frazier announced his intention to step down from the council "as a matter of personal conscience."  

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, had resigned from the council in June to protest Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.

After meeting with Trump in February, it's unclear what the manufacturing council has been doing. The council has no formal authority, and appears to conduct its business outside of the laws and regulations that govern federal advisory committees.

Contact Maureen Groppe at mgroppe@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @mgroppe.