Attorney General James Uthmeier of Florida and West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey have led a group of state attorneys general in urging President Donald J. Trump to oppose the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Directive. The coalition sent a letter to the president expressing concerns that the directive would impose broad Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) requirements on American companies.
“President Trump has shown tremendous leadership protecting American jobs and pushing back against foreign overreach,” said Attorney General James Uthmeier. “These EU requirements are nothing more than a backdoor attempt to force the radical green agenda on American companies. Without intervention, this will divert resources away from investment, job creation, and wage growth, while putting bureaucrats in Brussels in charge of U.S. business decisions.”
In their letter, the attorneys general commended the administration for efforts to bring jobs back to the United States, restore law and order, and dismantle ESG and DEI initiatives domestically. They warned that the European Union is now attempting to extend its climate policies internationally through regulation that could increase compliance costs for American businesses and expose them to legal risks.
The directive includes two main components: the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which requires companies to provide detailed disclosures across global value chains; and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which mandates embedding ESG and DEI practices into corporate operations worldwide with strict enforcement measures.
According to the coalition, these requirements could undermine U.S. sovereignty by allowing European regulators influence over American economic policy. They also argued that such mandates may discourage investment in traditional energy sectors and lead to increased litigation risks for U.S. companies.
The letter calls on President Trump to instruct the U.S. Trade Representative to formally oppose the EU’s directive during ongoing trade negotiations.
