Fact Sheets

# Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Removes DEI From the Foreign Service

The White House
March 18, 2025

RESTORING THE VALUES OF INDIVIDUAL DIGNITY, HARD WORK, AND EXCELLENCE: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed a memorandum removing radical “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” (DEI) from the Foreign Service.

- The memorandum directs the Secretary of State to remove the “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility” Core Precept from Foreign Service tenure and promotion criteria.
- It further directs that the U.S. government will not base Foreign Service recruitment, hiring, promotion, or retention decisions on an individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, nor embed discriminatory equity ideology within any element of the Foreign Service.
- Relevant agencies shall identify and take appropriate action regarding any Foreign Service Officer who knowingly and willfully engaged in illegal discrimination.

PUTTING MERIT FIRST: President Trump believes that hiring in all parts of government should be based solely on merit.

- Under the previous administration, divisive and discriminatory policies were systematically embedded into every part of the State Department.
- Biden’s State Department conditioned eligibility for promotions on an employee’s ability to pass a DEI loyalty test.
  - In 2023, Biden’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the State Department, Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, said: “We made the change that if you wanted to be considered for promotion at the Department of State, you must be able to document what you are doing to support diversity, equity and inclusion and accessibility. This is how you are judged for promotion.”
- Biden’s State Department published a “Five-Year Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Strategic Plan” that included a department-wide “DEIA Climate Survey” and implemented a comprehensive recruitment plan to aggressively target so-called “underrepresented groups.”
- Foreign policy positions should be filled by the most qualified individuals, not by discriminatory quotas or ideological requirements.

SERVING AMERICA, NOT IDEOLOGICAL AGENDAS: President Trump is restoring fairness and accountability in federal hiring, and terminating DEI across the federal government.

- In his first week in office, President Trump signed an Executive Order restoring merit-based hiring and promotions across the federal government.
- President Trump also signed an Executive Order ending radical and wasteful DEI programs and preferencing.
- President Trump: “We will terminate every diversity, equity, and inclusion program across the entire federal government.”

## Related

- #### Removing Discrimination and Discriminatory Equity Ideology From the Foreign Service

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