Uber CEO Travis Kalanick is stepping down from his role on President Donald Trump's Strategic and Policy Forum of business leaders, citing outside pressure on the company for appearing to support the Trump Administration's executive order banning refugees and certain immigrants.
"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," Kalanick wrote in an email to his employees, first published by the New York Times and independently confirmed by VICE News. "Immigration and openness to refugees is an important part of our country's success and quite honestly to Uber's."
Though it was revealed that Kalanick was joining Trump's informal business advisory council in December, along with Tesla founder Elon Musk, the pressure ramped up dramatically on Kalanick and Uber over the past week. On Saturday, as protesters swarmed John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York to demonstrate against Trump's refugee ban, Uber tweeted that it would eliminate surge-pricing in the area—giving the impression to some that it was breaking with a strike organized by New York taxi drivers.
Read more on VICE News
Advertisement