Four House Republicans have yet to commit to backing the spending bill

“Business Roundtable supports the President’s goals of strengthening border security and restricting the flow of fentanyl into the country,” the statement said. “As the work to further restrict the flow of fentanyl continues, we urge negotiators to redouble efforts to secure a path forward that swiftly removes the recently implemented tariffs. These tariffs, especially if they are long-lasting, run the risk of creating serious economic impact.”

Trump turned heads last summer when he flew to Washington to meet with the group just a week after a jury in New York found him guilty on state felony charges for the falsification of business records. 

The president has had tension with many of the CEOs in the group over the years.  While it cheered on Trump’s tax cuts during the first administration, the group took issue with the president’s tariffs on Chinese products. 

Several of its members also resigned in 2017 from the White House’s business advisory councils following the white nationalist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

The current chair of the Business Roundtable, Chuck Robbins, chair and CEO of Cisco, said at the time that “it is incomprehensible that we’re having this conversation in 2017” and that his company denounced “racism, discrimination, neo-Nazism, white supremacy.”

After the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, the business group condemned the attack and called on Trump to “put an end to the chaos and to facilitate the peaceful transition of power.”  

Members of the group include Tim Cook of Apple, Mary Barra of General Motors, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, Steve Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group, Harvey Schwartz of the Carlyle Group, John Stankey of AT&T and Mike Wirth of Chevron. 

According to an official with the Business Roundtable, the group’s quarterly meeting attracts about half of its total CEO members and always has a standing invitation to the president of the United States.