Several major Dutch listed companies have revised their diversity policies following an executive order signed by US president Donald Trump earlier this year that restricts active diversity and inclusion efforts among companies working with the US federal government, the Financieele Dagblad reported on Wednesday.
Institutional investors’ group Eumedion said in its annual review of shareholder meetings that a few firms with a strong presence in the United States or substantial public-sector contracts there have already adjusted their policies.
These include engineering group Arcadis and chip machine manufacturer ASML, both of which operate extensively in the US market.
The executive order, issued shortly after Trump took office in January, bars federal contractors from using measures such as gender quotas or targeted recruitment based on ethnicity.
According to the FD, ASML has changed the wording of its US diversity targets to comply with the order. While performance indicators related to inclusion no longer apply to American staff, the firm says its policy remains unchanged elsewhere and that it continues to see itself as an inclusive employer.
Arcadis, which won a major infrastructure contract in Louisiana this spring, also amended its short-term bonus scheme. The company removed a gender diversity target that previously made up 20% of executive bonuses, replacing it with a financial objective instead, the Eumedion report showed.
Insurer Aegon, which also has extensive operations in the US, dropped a diversity-linked bonus target for its CEO. Aegon said the move was not linked to the Trump decree, but reflected steady progress in boosting the share of women in senior management, which rose from 29% to 39% over the past five years.
Eumedion said that while it understands that these companies are restricted from being vocal or explicit in policy commitments and target-setting in this “challenging legal environment” it would continue to emphasise “the importance of equal opportunity, inclusive workplaces, equal pay for equal work”.
And despite the developments in the US, gender and cultural diversity within the supervisory and non-executive boards of Dutch AEX and AMX companies continued to increase in 2025, Eumedion said.
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