Intel chief executive Brian Krzanich joined other top CEOs Monday severing formal ties to the Trump administration following the president's muddled response to racist violence in Virginia over the weekend.

The decision to leave President Donald Trump's American Manufacturing Council represents a big switch for Krzanich, who had resisted earlier calls to resign. Previously, Krzanich had insisted on staying engaged with the new administration despite disagreements over immigration, trade and climate change.

Krzanich quit his post on the advisory panel, following the departures of Under Armour's and Merck's CEOs earlier in the day. Tesla CEO Elon Musk quit his posts on presidential councils in June after Trump announced the United States would leave the Paris climate change agreement.

"I resigned to call attention to the serious harm our divided political climate is causing to critical issues, including the serious need to address the decline of American manufacturing," Krzanich wrote on an Intel blog. "Politics and political agendas have sidelined the important mission of rebuilding America's manufacturing base."

On Saturday, after a rally of white nationalists culminated in the death of a protestor, Trump condemned violence "on many sides."

Politicians and activists of all political stripes denounced his statement for failing to call out the white supremacists who organized the rally. Under withering criticism Trump issued a new statement Monday, labeling racism as "evil."

Intel employs more Oregonians than any other business, with 19,300 working at its campuses in Washington County. Krzanich works at the corporate headquarters in Santa Clara, California.

A registered Democrat until last year - when he changed his California voter registration to private - Krzanich had nonetheless sought to build ties with the Trump administration. Shortly after the inauguration, Krzanich went to the Oval Office for a photo-op with Trump announcing Intel will open a mothballed factory in Arizona.

However, Krzanich has spoken against Trump's travel ban on immigrants from several predominantly Muslim countries, the president's decision to leave the Paris climate accords, and Trump's anti-trade declarations. He has maintained ties to the president anyway.

"It's the administration of our country. We need to engage," Krzanich told CNBC in June, amid reports Trump was preparing to pull out of the Paris accord. He said he would work from the inside to change the president's thinking.

"What I'll do is I'll spend time in there talking about what are we going to do, how do we get back in" to the Paris agreement, Krzanich said.

On Monday, Krzanich indicated he could no longer promote policies to improve domestic manufacturing while ignoring broader issues.

"I am not a politician. I am an engineer who has spent most of his career working in factories that manufacture the world's most advanced devices," he wrote. "Yet, it is clear even to me that nearly every issue is now politicized to the point where significant progress is impossible. Promoting American manufacturing should not be a political issue."

-- Mike Rogoway; twitter: @rogoway; 503-294-7699