The Danish Minister of Industry has asked for a European response on Tuesday after US embassies in several EU member states sent a letter to local companies warning them that maintaining racial and gender diversity programs could affect their business relations with the US, reports AFP.
“A response must be discussed with our European colleagues,” said Danish Minister Morten Bodskov to the French news agency, considering the US initiative “a new attempt at an American trade barrier,” after the trade barriers consisting of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump or threatened to impose them.
”The Danish and European companies take on great responsibility for diversity,” emphasized the same Danish minister. “In the EU, for example, we have adopted legislation to promote diversity within companies and to strengthen corporate responsibility towards the society they belong to,” he recalled.
The Danish Chamber of Commerce confirmed that Danish commercial companies, suppliers, or service providers to the American government have received the aforementioned letter, which includes a questionnaire on the implementation of internal discrimination prevention programs, along with a warning that maintaining such programs could prevent these companies from continuing to cooperate with the American government.This letter is a direct consequence of an executive order by Donald Trump, revoking racial and gender diversity programs on his first day in office and decreeing that the United States will now only recognize two genders, male and female, in line with his promise during his campaign to combat woke progressive ideology and promote conservative social policies.Also on Tuesday, Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot promised that his country “will not back down even one centimeter” from the principle of diversity in society.
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