Trump pressures Apple to end DEI after investors reject measure

President Trump said Apple Inc. should end its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, ramping up his pressure campaign to erase the policies from U.S. workplaces.

“APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM,” the president wrote Wednesday on his social media site.

The comments come a day after Apple investors rejected an outside shareholder proposal to end its DEI initiatives. Chief Executive Tim Cook said the company never had hiring quotas or targets, but still may make some adjustments to the program. The company conducted the vote as part of its annual meeting.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump has slammed DEI policies as discriminatory, arguing they de-emphasize merit-based hiring. The president had used the push to justify his wide-ranging effort to slash the federal workforce and gut agency programs. Critics say getting rid of DEI policies will stymie gains for women and minorities in the workplace.

Amid the president’s offensive against DEI, U.S. companies have begun pulling back from their own efforts. Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Jane Fraser recently scrapped the company’s DEI goals, citing a Trump executive order banning “illegal DEI” policies by federal contractors, like her bank.

Other large companies like Meta Platforms Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google ended policies like interview requirements with diverse candidates and hiring targets from historically underrepresented communities.

Trump’s criticism of Apple comes just a day after he praised the company’s commitment to invest $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years. The company said the money will go toward a new server manufacturing facility in Houston, a supplier academy in Michigan and additional spending with its existing suppliers in the country.

The company has also pledged to add 20,000 new jobs, marking Apple’s biggest U.S. commitment to date, as the iPhone maker and others contend with Trump’s tariff threats against a wide array of U.S. imports.

Lowenkron writes for Bloomberg.