Donald Trump : US President scraps business forums after CEO protest resignations

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he was scrapping two business advisory councils in the wake of several high-profile resignations in protest over his comments on a white supremacist rally in Virginia that turned violent.

Three Ohio industry leaders were among those sitting on President Trump's economic advisory panels, which were abruptly dissolved Wednesday. Schwarzman chaired the group, formally known as the Strategic and Policy Forum.

The President's Strategic and Policy Forum was conceived as a bi-partisan group of business leaders called to serve our country by providing independent feedback and perspectives directly to the President on accelerating economic growth and job creation in the United States.

After Mr Trump's much criticised original response to the protest, Kenneth Frazier, the chief executive of drug manufacturer, Merck, on Tuesday resigned from the Manufacturing council. The group put out its own statement.

" I strongly disagree with President Trump's reaction to the events that took place in Charlottesville over the past several days". He also tweeted that he was disbanding the councils.

The statement also said racism and violence have "no place" in America - a reference to the white nationalist march that led to a counter-protester being killed.

"The president's statements yesterday were deeply troubling".

Immelt said in a statement that he notified council members of his decision Wednesday morning, before Trump's tweet.

Eric Schiffer, CEO of Reputation Management Consultants, said any executives remaining on those councils would be perceived as sharing Trump's point of view.

"I don't think these are personal decisions", said Blain Rethmeier, a Republican strategist who worked on the Trump transition and consults with companies in California. "Anything can happen. Not expecting to work in the White House or the government, but if the opportunity arose, I'd absolutely look at it closely".

Former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick and Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk both departed the strategy forum earlier in the year.

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, who was a member of the forum, also added her statement to the mix on Wednesday afternoon, noting in a memo CNBC obtained that IBM has worked with every president since Woodrow Wilson and saying the company has always believed "dialogue is critical to progress" but that "this group can no longer serve the objective for which it was formed".