Is Trump Bad For Business? Executives Are Against President's Executive Orders On Immigration, Travel

Topping off his second week in office, President Donald Trump has planned to meet with a litany of corporate executives Friday. Many of them hailed from the “President’s Strategic and Policy Forum,” an advisory group of business leaders he formed in December, but some of the encounters may prove to be a bit awkward.

The list of corporate leaders includes JPMorgan & Chase Co.’s Jamie Dimon, General Motors Co. chief executive Mary Barra and Travis Kalanick, the CEO of Uber, along with the heads of Walt Disney Co., the private equity firm Blackstone Group LP and IBM Corp., Reuters reported, citing “two officials briefed on the meeting.” The Wall Street Journal, which first reported on the conference, tacked Toby Cosgrove, the CEO of the Cleveland Clinic, on to the list.

The meeting, according to the Journal, will center on "regulation, women in the workforce, tax and trade and infrastructure development."

All the executives were part of the group assembled in December, which also includes Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk and PepsiCo chief Indra Nooyi—both of whom have openly criticized the new president.

Kalanick faces a balancing act as he enters the White House Friday, having been criticized from both sides of the aisle in the wake of Trump’s chaos-causing executive order barring asylum seekers, visa and green card holders from seven majority-Muslim countries from entering the U.S.

He railed against the travel ban, saying it was “against everything @Uber stands for” in a tweet Sunday. Uber has set aside $3 million to fund legal efforts against the order, he added. The company drew backlash when it halted surge pricing during a protest by mostly Middle East-born New York City taxi drivers, effectively negating their service boycott around the John F. Kennedy Airport. The hashtag #DeleteUber gained traction online.

As of Thursday, both Kalanick and Musk had reportedly signed a joint letter the tech community planned to send to Trump in opposition of the travel ban, the Journal reported, citing “people familiar with the matter.” IBM said in a Jan. 30 statement on the order that the company “will continue to work and advocate” for the free flow of people and ideas. Meanwhile, hundreds signed an open letter urging Cosgrove of the Cleveland Clinic to distance himself from the administration, and a Sudanese medical resident at the prestigious hospital awaited a court hearing on the status of her H1-B specialty work visa as of Wednesday.