"British pharma company GSK pauses diversity work citing Trump orders," 28 February 2025

The British pharma company GSK has paused diversity activities for UK workers, claiming that it is obliged to do so in response to executive orders by the US president, Donald Trump. The FTSE 100 company has also scrubbed references to “diversity” from its website. GSK is led by Emma Walmsley, one of the few women to head a FTSE 100 company...

Internal communications said the company was obliged to comply with Trump’s executive orders because the US is the company’s largest market and the US government is its No 1 customer...

The GSK communications said that all diversity and inclusion policies were being reviewed. In the meantime, there is to be a pause on diversity and inclusion activities, although it is understood that efforts to promote diversity in clinical trials – vital to understand medicines’ effects across varied populations – will not be affected...

A GSK company spokesperson said: “We are strongly committed to GSK being an inclusive workplace where our people can be themselves, and have their different perspectives, experiences and characteristics valued, because this helps everyone perform at their best...

A GSK spokesperson added: “The company completely rejects this characterisation of our actions.”...