Stockholm City Council rejects U.S. Embassy demands to end DEI programming

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House, Thursday, May 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

STOCKHOLM — The Stockholm City Council has rejected the U.S. Embassy’s demands that it comply with the Trump administration’s rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

It’s the latest in U.S. President Donald Trump’s efforts to terminate such programs within the federal government — and beyond — in what he described in his inauguration speech as a move to end efforts to “socially engineer race and gender into every aspect of public and private life.”

Countries and cities across Europe have received similar outreach from U.S. embassies, including France, Belgium and the city of Barcelona, all of which lashed out at the U.S. efforts to expand its anti-DEI policies to the continent.

In an email to the city’s planning office, dated April 29, the U.S. Embassy in Stockholm asked that Stockholm officials sign a certification that their contractors do not operate any programs promoting DEI that would violate U.S. anti-discrimination law.

The city council said Friday that it will not comply with the U.S. Embassy’s demands or respond officially.

The Associated Press