Article snippet: After several business leaders announced their resignations from the White House's American Manufacturing Council in recent days, President Donald Trump announced he was ending the panel Wednesday, along with the separate Strategic and Policy Forum. "Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both," wrote Trump on Twitter. "Thank you all!" Eight members of the American Manufacturing Council dropped from the panel following Trump's response to last weekend's violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. A ninth, Greg Hayes of United Technologies, announced his resignation just minutes after the president's tweet. On Saturday, Trump received widespread criticism over his perceived weak response to a white nationalist rally in the central Virginia city which resulted in the death of a counter-protester struck by a vehicle. The president repeated sentiments Tuesday that he first expressed over the weekend when he said at a Trump Tower press conference that there was "blame" "on both sides" of Saturday's protests. The American Manufacturing Council was established in January and featured 28 members at its start. Tesla CEO Merck who was the first to drop out this week. The Strategic and Policy Forum, an additional group of business people advising the president, was considering disbanding prior to Trump's announcement, according to a report by The New York Times. The news... Link to the full article to read more