Uber CEO Travis Kalanick told his company’s employees Thursday that he would leave a Trump administration business advisory council, bowing to public pressure over the president’s immigration policies.
Kalanick told employees in an email that joining “the group was not meant to be an endorsement of the president or his agenda but unfortunately it has been misinterpreted to be exactly that,” according to the New York Times.
Uber had faced public criticism over Kalanick’s relationship with the Trump administration, including a move to boycott the ride-sharing service. The boycott gained steam after Uber continued to provide rides to New York’s John F. Kennedy airport despite an ongoing taxi worker strike over Trump’s immigration executive order. Critics sought to call attention to the boycott using the hashtag #deleteUber.
Earlier in the week, the company issued a press release criticizing Trump’s immigration order and promising support for immigrant drivers. That step, however, did not defuse the criticism.
The council, comprising 19 members including Kalanick, includes some of the biggest names in business, such as JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, General Motors CEO Mary Barra, Disney CEO Bob Iger, and more.
