Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quits Trump advisory council

Amid controversy over President Trump’s immigration ban that spurred a #DeleteUber movement, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick will resign from the president’s economic advisory council, the company confirmed on Thursday.

“Earlier today I spoke briefly with the president about the immigration executive order and its issues for our community,” Kalanick wrote in an email to employees obtained by The Chronicle. “I also let him know that I would not be able to participate on his economic council. 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.”

A boycott of Uber gained steam last weekend after the ride-hailing company tweeted that it had suspended surge pricing during a strike at New York’s JFK International Airport by cab drivers, who were protesting Trump’s ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries. Although Uber tweeted that it didn’t intend to break the strike, that incident, in combination with Kalanick’s presence on the council, stirred fury on social media.

GrabYourWallet, a website listing companies to avoid because of ties with Trump or his family, will remove Uber from the boycott list, according to Shannon Coulter, a Bay Area consultant on marketing and social media who started the list after the October release of tapes of Trump making lewd comments about women. Kalanick resigning from the council “was the requested action all along,” she said.

A picture taken on January 18, 2015 shows Travis Kalanick, co-founder of the US transportation network company Uber, speaking during the opening of the Digital Life Design (DLD) Conference in Munich, southern Germany. The car-sharing start-up Uber can create as many as 50,000 jobs in Europe this year as part of a "new partnership" with European cities, its chief executive told at the conference in Munich. AFP PHOTO / DPA / TOBIAS HASE +++ GERMANY OUTTOBIAS HASE/AFP/Getty Images less A picture taken on January 18, 2015 shows Travis Kalanick, co-founder of the US transportation network company Uber, speaking during the opening of the Digital Life Design (DLD) Conference in Munich, southern ... more Photo: TOBIAS HASE, AFP / Getty Images Photo: TOBIAS HASE, AFP / Getty Images Image 1 of / 47 Caption Close Uber CEO Travis Kalanick quits Trump advisory council 1 / 47 Back to Gallery

Coulter said that other companies have also responded to boycott pressure. Kawasaki USA said it would not sponsor “Celebrity Apprentice” while Trump remains involved with the reality TV show, while some retailers said they would not carry Ivanka Trump products.

“I’m impressed with how Americans are flexing their economic power in favor of a more respectful and inclusive society,” she said.

Kalanick had said on Facebook last weekend that he planned speak up against the ban at the economic advisory group’s first meeting, scheduled for Friday. “Allowing people from all around the world to come here and make America their home has largely been the U.S.’ policy since its founding,” he wrote. Thousands of Uber drivers are immigrants from the affected countries, he said. Uber pledged $3 million to a fund to provide lawyers for affected drivers, and offered to compensate drivers stranded abroad during the three-month ban.

Eighteen other business leaders are among the members of the economic board, including the heads of Disney, Tesla, General Motors, Pepsi and Walmart.

Some social-justice groups and drivers had planned protests on Thursday at Uber offices around the country. Late-afternoon rallies at Uber’s San Francisco headquarters and the site of its forthcoming Oakland offices would proceed, organizers said. “Bay Resistance will still hold its protests later today to celebrate and put other companies that collaborate with Trump’s agenda on notice,” said Beth Trimarco, a spokeswoman for East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, in an email.

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Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid