For months, French companies have been bracing for the fallout of commerce wars and tariff threats from the USA as the consequences of President Trump’s “America First” insurance policies ripple out. However this previous week, the French company world was roiled by one other kind of Trump missive.
In a terse three-paragraph letter despatched by the American Embassy in France to French corporations, executives had been informed that President Trump’s strikes to remove variety, fairness and inclusion insurance policies would apply to any agency doing enterprise with the U.S. authorities. It mentioned it was giving them 5 days to signal a type indicating that they’d comply.
An executive order that Mr. Trump signed the day after taking workplace instructs federal contractors to not interact in D.E.I., which the order described as “unlawful discrimination.” The letter to French companies mentioned the order “applies to all suppliers and contractors of the U.S. authorities, no matter their nationality and the nation through which they function.”
“If you don’t comply with signal this doc, we’d recognize it for those who may present detailed causes, which we are going to ahead to our authorized companies,” the letter mentioned. The accompanying type added that corporations should certify “that they don’t function any packages selling D.E.I.”
The discover brought on a sensation within the French company world and drew a curt reply from the French authorities.
“This apply displays the values of the brand new American authorities. They aren’t ours,” the financial system ministry mentioned in an announcement late Friday. France’s financial system minister, Eric Lombard, “will remind his counterparts throughout the American authorities of this,” the assertion mentioned.
It was not instantly clear what number of corporations obtained the letter or how enforceable it was. However a number of members of the French Association of Private Enterprises, which embody French CAC-40 listed corporations and dozens of different main French corporations, expressed their dismay over it throughout a gathering with French authorities officers this week.
Mr. Trump’s D.E.I.-quashing orders have sown fear and confusion amongst company leaders in the USA and led companies such as Google, in addition to American regulation corporations and a few universities, to roll again variety targets. However the Trump administration’s efforts to impose its insurance policies on Europe-based workforces have been met with resistance in places like Italy which have lengthy had robust labor legal guidelines favoring staff’ rights.
In France, corporations have labored for years to extend the presence of girls, members of minority teams and workers with disabilities, typically broadening their workforces to replicate the make-up of French society.
In contrast to in the USA, French variety insurance policies formally bar the consideration of race in hiring. Even so, French corporations have moved in apply to extend worker variety and talk their efforts to shareholders. As well as, corporations with greater than 250 workers are legally required to have greater than 40 p.c of girls on their government boards.
A spokesperson for the French Affiliation of Non-public Enterprises mentioned the group was ready for the federal government to make a “coordinated response” to the Trump administration’s letter.
Catherine Porter contributed reporting.
