Ericsson and Lego give way to Trump? Were to remove the terms regarding diversity from their reports

The Swedish telecommunications group Ericsson and the Danish LEGO block manufacturer operating in the US have removed the terms related to the diversity and integration of LGBT people from their reports – according to the analysis of Scandinavian media.

Donald Trump's administration in a recently sent letter called for European concerns to abandon Dei policy (diversity, equality and inclusion) if they want to do business with the United States. He informed about the case, among others Financial Times.

According to the Swedish newspaper “Dagens Industri”, Ericsson in the report for 2024 removed the current sentence about the pursuit of creating an organization “characterized by diversity and inclusiveness.” The new definition has more neutral terms “equal treatment and opportunities”. The daily notes that in the report for 2023 the term “diversity and integration” has been mentioned 12 times, now it does not appear even once. The current version also lacked a declaration of filling new positions by women and men.

Ericsson is one of the companies that donated to the organization of the January inauguration of the second term of office of Trump. This step was then explained by the participation in the expansion of critical infrastructure in the USA.

The Danish portal “Finance” informed about the changes in the LEGO group's report, summarizing the company's activities in 2024. The article pointed out that in the new version of the document LEGO gave up the terms “diversity” and “inclusiveness”, there are also no references to the LGBT community. However, the number of references about women fell from 16 to three, and gender – from 11 to two.

The “Finance” portal reminded that LEGO is in the process of building a large factory in the state of Virginia in the USA, and this country is an important market export market.

As explained by Ericsson's representative Ralf Bagner in a written statement cited by the media, the change of language in the report was aimed at “greater transparency” and were not introduced under the pressure of the US authorities. He also assured that the concern had not changed its policy of diversity.

In turn, Danish media noticed that Lego on its website still ensures that it supports diversity.

At the beginning of January, President Trump signed a decree prohibiting programs of diversity, equality and integration in the United States. It was one of his first decisions after the start of the second term.

From Stockholm Daniel Zyśk (PAP)

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