US sends letters to Portuguese companies asking them to abandon diversity policies
The United States government has sent out letters to Portuguese companies that provide goods and services informing them that they should abandon their diversity, equality and inclusion policies.
This is to meet Donald Trump’s executive order signed in January. The move had been confirmed to the online news source ECO by the US Embassy in Lisbon. Identical letters have been sent out to other businesses in EU countries.
“The U.S. embassy in Portugal is conducting a standard global review of contracts, which applies to all U.S. government grant suppliers and recipients. This process includes a certification request to ensure compliance with US anti-discrimination laws”, an official source from the embassy told ECO.
At the heart of this contract review process is the executive order signed on January 21 by US President Donald Trump to “end illegal discrimination and restore merit-based opportunities.”
According to this order, “critical and influential institutions” in US society, including the US government, large companies, financial institutions and higher education establishments have adopted “dangerous, degrading, and immoral preferences based on race or sex”, as part of DEI initiatives.
Efforts by the US government to eliminate diversity initiatives have not been well-received in Europe, after French media reported last week that major companies in the country had received a letter saying President Donald Trump’s rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives also could apply outside the US.
The European Commission has acknowledged a letter had been sent, but stated “we need to know a few more details before we react, and as you know, and as you have pointed out, anti-discrimination and equality is based on our main values.”
The demands in the letter reportedly include abandoning inclusion policies that align with French and European Union laws, such as gender equality, the fight against discrimination and racism, and the promotion of diversity to assist people with disabilities.
The document signed by Donald Trump also argues that these DEI programmes weaken “national unity” in the United States since they deny and denigrate the “traditional American values of hard work, excellence and individual conquests”.
At the same time they preference “a corrosive system based on identity”. In other words, any programme that promotes diversity, equality and inclusion clashes with meritocracy and is therefore a form of discrimination.
The online news source ECO asked various Portuguese companies with contracts with the US government for a reaction but they have remained tight-lipped on the policy.
This includes companies like Vodafone Portugal, Fidelidade, Mota-Engil, Galp, Caetano Automotive, CTT, Allianz Portugal, MEO, and CMS Portugal.
In theory, the United States does not have the right to impose policies on European Union companies.
But in practice they could enforce such rules on Portuguese companies that supply goods and services to United States companies, entities and the market in general, and refuse to accept them as suppliers or pay invoices if they fail to do so.
The news agency Reuters has been unable to establish how many companies have received letters or how much their combined contracts are worth.
But the anti-DEI pressure from Washington has highlighted the extraterritorial reach of US policies and their potential impact on European corporate practices.
Other “America First” policies pursued by Trump have stoked economic and political tensions between the US and Europe since his January 20 inauguration, at a time when his actions on tariffs and security ties have upended transatlantic relations and have sent stock markets into a tailspin.
Image: US President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. EPA/AL DRAGO / POOL
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