Merck CEO quits Trump's manufacturing council over Charlottesville — and Trump immediately bashes him (MRK)

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August 14, 2017 2:06 PM

"As CEO of Merck and as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism," Kenneth Frazier said.

President Donald Trump and Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier at a meeting with manufacturing executives in February.

Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier is resigning from President Donald Trump's manufacturing council.

"America's leaders must honor our fundamental values by clearly rejecting expressions of hatred, bigotry and group supremacy, which run counter to the American ideal that all people are created equal," Frazier said in a statement on Monday.

He added: "As CEO of Merck and as a matter of personal conscience, I feel a responsibility to take a stand against intolerance and extremism."

Frazier is one of the few black CEOs of a major US corporation and the only black member of the council

The resignation came after a weekend of violence at a white-nationalist and neo-Nazi protest in Charlottesville, Virginia. The president did not explicitly condemn white supremacists.

Trump almost immediately fired back at Frazier, turning the conversation toward drug pricing.

Merck, a pharmaceutical giant based in New Jersey, is known for makingformer President Jimmy Carter get cancer-free

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