Target Pulls Back on DEI

Target announced that it is scaling back its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies.

“Many years of data, insights, listening and learning have been shaping this next chapter in our strategy,” Target’s chief community impact and equity officer, Kiera Fernandez, said in the memo obtained by CNBC. “And as a retailer that serves millions of consumers every day, we understand the importance of staying in step with the evolving external landscape, now and in the future – all in service of driving Target’s growth and winning together.”

Target’s “Belonging at the Bullseye Strategy” states that the company is ending its “three-year diversity, equity and inclusion goals” and its “Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH)” initiatives. It is further halting its “external diversity-focused surveys, including HRC’s Corporate Equality Index.”

The “Supplier Diversity” team will evolve to “Supplier Engagement” to “better reflect our inclusive global procurement process across a broad range of suppliers, including increasing our focus on small businesses,” Target said.

The company noted that it is “constantly listening, learning and adjusting to set ourselves up for long-term success.”

“Throughout 2025, we’ll be accelerating action in key areas and implementing changes with the goal of driving growth and staying in step with the evolving external landscape. We will continue to monitor and adjust as needed,” the strategy added.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order upon his inauguration that promotes merit-based opportunity for Americans.

“Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system,” the order says. Hardworking Americans who deserve a shot at the American Dream should not be stigmatized, demeaned, or shut out of opportunities because of their race or sex.”

Trump also terminated all federal DEI programs, which he criticized as divisive and unnecessary. “We will terminate every diversity, equity, and inclusion program across the entire federal government,” he declared.

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