France has accused the Trump administration of interfering in the decisions of private French companies after the U.S. embassy said the American federal government would no longer work with businesses with so-called diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.
In addition to taking on DEI at home, the Trump White House is apparently intent on taking on the woke agenda abroad as well.
According to a report in the French newspaper of record, Le Figaro, the U.S. embassy in Paris informed several companies in France that it would be ending business relationships with firms that engage in discrimination.
According to the paper, the document stated: “We inform you that Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-based Opportunities, signed by President Trump, applies to all suppliers and service providers of the U.S. Government, regardless of their nationality and the country in which they operate.”
The purported U.S. embassy document reportedly demanded that the companies agree within five days of receiving the letter.
“If you do not agree to sign this document, we would appreciate it if you could provide detailed reasons, which we will forward to our legal services,” it concluded.
While the embassy in Paris has yet to confirm the document’s veracity, the French government’s Ministry of Foreign Trade condemned the pressure from the Trump White House.
“American interference in the inclusion policies of French companies, such as threats of unjustified customs duties, is unacceptable,” the ministry said in a statement, adding: “France and Europe will defend their businesses, their consumers, but also their values.”
The French Economy Ministry said that Finance Minister Éric Lombard would raise the dispute with the U.S. government, commenting, “This practice reflects the values of the new American government… These are not ours.”
Yet, the spirit of Trump’s ban on discrimination through DEI actually falls in line with the long-held political principle in France of “colour-blind” republicanism. The French constitution states, “France shall be an indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic. It shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion.”
The executive order to end contracts with firms engaged in DEI was one of President Trump’s first acts upon returning to the White House in January.
The order stated that diversity, equity, and inclusion policies “not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”
The action added that hardworking Americans should not be “stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex.”
In addition to facing pushback from France, the executive order is also facing legal challenges in the United States. Democrat-appointed Judge Matthew F. Kennelly of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois argued this week that requiring firms to scrap discrimination as a prerequisite to work with the federal government amounted to a “coercive threat” that may violate the First Amendment.
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