Tesla’s Elon Musk, Disney CEO Bob Iger quit Trump’s council over Paris deal exit

Walt Disney Co CEO Bob Iger and Tesla Motors Corp founder Elon Musk have withdrawn from a presidential jobs panel. Also many blue-chip US titans such as General Electric Co, Ford Motor Co, Dow Chemical Co, and Microsoft Corp have expressed disappointment after President Trump announced the decision to walk away from the Paris agreement.

Meanwhile, Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, is getting on board a number of US states, cities and businesses in a bid to meet the emissions targets under the Paris accord.

''We're going to do everything America would have done if it had stayed committed,'' Bloomberg said in an interview with the New York Times.

Virgin Group founder Richard Branson wrote the decision, made him ''want to cry.''

However, National Economic Council director Gary Cohn defended Trump on CNN, saying, ''What President Trump believes is that he was elected to grow the US economy and provide great job opportunities for American citizens.

''What he believes he did today was to do exactly that,'' he said.

Cohn defended his position as Wolf Blitzer asked three times whether Trump stood by his past tweets labeling global warming a hoax. Finally Cohn said, ''you're going to actually have to ask him.''

Iger said he will step down from Trump's business advisory council, in protest against the president's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate deal.

"Protecting our planet and driving economic growth are critical to our future, and they aren't mutually exclusive," Iger said in a statement. "I deeply disagree with the decision to withdraw from the Paris Agreement."

Other top executives have also voiced strong criticism of Trump's decision on the Paris accord.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Microsoft, president Brad Smith, Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg all took to social media Thursday to express their disappointment.