Financial officials from twenty-one states are urging President Donald Trump to open a review of European Union (EU) climate rules affecting U.S. businesses. The officials include treasurers, comptrollers, auditors, and inspectors.
The officials wrote that over the last several years, they have “highlighted the ways in which both private actors and government regulators have attempted to distort financial markets, starving critical industries of much-needed capital, to advance ideological social and environmental agendas rather than prudent investment.”
“This well-documented ‘ESG’ trend—collusion among the world’s largest asset managers, non-governmental organizations, and financial regulators—undermines our states’ financial positions and our ability to protect the investments we manage for our states,” they wrote, specifically listing EU efforts such as the Corporate Sustainability Directive and the European “Green Deal.”
“While EU member states are key American trading partners and geopolitical allies,this partnership cannot come at the cost of subjecting American companies to unbounded regulatory requirements that will only weaken the economies of both Europe and the United States,” the officials argued. “By reaching into domestic business operations, the directives serve as a direct assault on American sovereignty.”
The officials explain that the sustainability directives are “overreaching and undermine key American interests” such as “energy dominance and economic stability.”
“Our aim is to enhance trade relations with the EU’s member states—some of our country’s strongest allies and best trading partners. The EU’s aggressive ESG agenda has crippled European own economic growth9 and threatens to undermine that of the United States. This is intolerable. We hope that strong action, including a Section 301 investigation, motivates the EU to reconsider its sustainability directives,” they concluded.
The letter comes as Trump signed an executive order on January 20 that asserts that any international agreements “must not unduly or unfairly burden the United States.”
