"A response must naturally be discussed with our European colleagues," Industry Minister Morten Bødskov told news agency AFP when asked to comment on letters sent by US embassies to companies in France and Denmark doing or looking to do business in the United States.
"Danish and European companies take great responsibility for diversity," Bødskov said. "In the EU, for example, we have adopted legislation to promote diversity in corporate leadership and to enhance companies’ responsibility for the society they are part of."
"This can only be seen as yet another attempt at an American trade barrier," he said.
The response comes after Danish business organisations on Monday said that a number of companies had been asked by the US Embassy to confirm they do not have pro-diversity policies.
“We have a handful of members who have asked for our advice on how to respond to this letter,” Søren Friis Larsen, USA country manager with the Danish Chamber of Commerce, told DR.
The Confederation of Danish Industry (DI), the largest interest organisation for Danish businesses, also confirmed the existence of the letters.
"We have never seen anything like this before, whereby the US attempts to dictate and interfere in European companies’ management rights. This is completely unheard of," DI’s director of consultation Kinga Szabo Christensen said in a written comment to newswire Ritzau.
International media have previously reported that US embassies have contacted European companies who have business agreements with the US government or State Department.
According to the reports, the embassies have reminded the companies that an executive order signed by President Donald Trump also applies to companies supplying the administration. The executive order in question bans DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies at workplaces.
France's foreign trade minister Laurent Saint-Martin said on Monday that he was "deeply shocked" by the letters, which were tantamount to asking companies "to renounce the inclusion policies" that are in line with French or European law -- "particularly on equality between women and men in the fight against discrimination and racism, and the promotion of diversity to help people with disabilities."
French Economy Minister Eric Lombard's office had earlier said Trump views of DEI "are not ours".
Also Tuesday, Belgium's Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said the country "will not go back on millimetre" on diversity efforts in response to the US letter, which Belgian firms had also received.
He called the requests "deeply regrettable" and said "Belgium has clearly stated its concerns" to the US Embassy in Brussels.
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