The rift over DEI threatens to exacerbate transatlantic tensions.
It’s not “just a sort of fork in the road between the US and Europe,” said Raoul Parekh, an employment lawyer who heads the international practice in the London office of Littler Mendelson PC. But more like the two jurisdictions “are driving in completely opposite directions.”
Among Trump’s first actions in his second presidency was to sign an executive order banning DEI from the federal government and its contractors, and ordering agencies to launch investigations into any organization that promotes what the White House has dubbed “illegal DEI.” A May survey by Littler Mendelson of corporate executives based in the US found that 55% expect to change their DEI programs as a result of Trump’s executive orders.
