Obama huddles with premier US business bosses

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama met Friday with top executives at marquee US firms like American Express and Johnson & Johnson, with the country's economy struggling and global markets prone to wild swings.

"If they have suggestions for things that we can do to get our economy moving, then he's open to hearing those," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters ahead of the closed-door talks.

The group included top executives at Xerox, American Express, US Bank, BlackRock, Silver Lake Partners, Wells Fargo, US Steel, and Johnson & Johnson, according to a White House official, who requested anonymity.

Obama's bid for reelection in November 2012 will likely hinge on his handling of the dismal US economy, which has struggled with unemployment at about nine percent as it claws its way up from the 2008 global collapse.

"He does view this as an opportunity to talk to these business leaders, to these leaders in the private sector, who will ultimately be the venue where our economic recovery is driven," said Earnest.

"He'll talk to them about how the economic challenges are affecting their individual companies, but also their broader sectors; and that this is an opportunity for that dialogue to take place," said the spokesman.

Asked whether the meeting was in response to global market upheaval, Earnest replied: "I would not describe those meetings as a reaction to that, but I'm confident that they will be discussing those kinds of things in the meeting."

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011