Stockholm City Council rejects US Embassy demands to end DEI programming

STOCKHOLM (AP) — 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 embassy’s demands or respond officially.

“We were really surprised, of course,” Jan Valeskog, vice mayor for city planning, told The Associated Press. “We will not sign this document at all, of course not.”

Valeskog said that while the city wants to continue its good relationship with the embassy, it will follow Swedish law and city policies to include DEI practices.