Klever concerned at impact of Trump ban on diversity policies

International aid minister Reinette Klever says she is concerned by the Trump administration’s threat to cancel contracts with foreign businesses unless they scrap their diversity policies.

“I can well imagine that this creates more uncertainty for Dutch businesses,” the PVV minister said in a reply to Trouw newspaper.

“So far we have had received no indications that companies have received such a request, but we are in close contact.”

The US embassy in The Hague has refused to confirm if it has written to Dutch companies warning them that they risk losing their government contracts, stating that it does “not comment on personal correspondence”.

French newspaper Les Echos obtained a copy of a letter circulated to companies by the US embassy in Paris, asking them to certify that they do not have DEI hiring policies or give “detailed reasons” why they are unable to do so.

Other European governments have ruled out complying with the US demands, with French minister for social equality Aurore Bergé saying it was “out of the question”, while Belgian deputy prime minister Jan Jambon said: “We have no lessons to learn from the boss of America.”

Boardroom equality

The letter, which has also reportedly been sent to companies in Spain, Italy and Belgium, warned that an executive order signed by Donald Trump on his first day as president prohibiting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes would apply to all US government contractors, wherever they were based.

Dutch publicly listed companies are required by law to report how many women they employ at boardroom level. At least one-third of the members of their supervisory boards must be women.

Large companies with contracts with the US government, such as Philips and Boskalis, would not confirm whether they had received any correspondence about their DEI policies.

Mijntje Lückerath, professor of corporate governance at the University of Tilburg, said the Trump administration was engaging in “pure intimidation” to try to force European companies to change their rules.

“It’s very easy to say you have to stand up for your diversity and inclusion policy, but if you know you’re going to lose business as a result it becomes complicated,” she told NOS. “It’s not just about the money: it has an impact on your employees as well.”