Norway’s wealth fund divested from a US firm supplying
bulldozers to Israel, prompting Donald Trump to threaten tariffs in
retaliation.
The Norwegian wealth fund's decision to sell off its stake in the US manufacturing behemoth Caterpillar Inc. due to ethical concerns has recently drawn heavy criticism from the US government.
“We are very troubled by the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund’s decision, which appears to be based on illegitimate claims against Caterpillar and the Israeli government,”
it said on Thursday in a statement.
“We are engaging directly with the Norwegian government on this matter.”
The $2 trillion wealth fund in Norway was criticized by the US Department of State, which expressed "deep trouble" about the fund's recent decision to sell off its stake in the American corporation.
Due to the widespread use of Caterpillar-made bulldozers in the Israeli regime's willful destruction of Palestinian homes and life in both Gaza and the occupied West Bank, Norway decided to divest.
Citing an "unacceptable risk that the companies contribute to serious violations of the rights of individuals in situations of war," Norges Bank Investment Management, which manages the fund on behalf of the Norwegian people, declared it would sell its shares in Caterpillar and five Israeli banks.
Human rights activists claimed that Trump's defense of a business whose bulldozers have come to represent displacement and devastation demonstrated that his foreign policy is motivated by a strong commitment to Israel's expansionist ambition, even if it means assaulting a NATO partner, rather than by morality.
One of the largest and most reputable sovereign wealth funds in the world, Norway's, just liquidated its $2.1 billion investment in Caterpillar. The deployment of Caterpillar's D9 bulldozers in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in breach of international law was amply demonstrated by its Ethics Council.
Human rights organizations have backed and extensively recorded the "widespread unlawful destruction of Palestinian property" that the council discovered in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The goal of Norway's divestment was to make a clear statement: it is immoral to profit from war crimes and the ongoing genocide in Gaza, which has claimed over 64,500 Palestinian lives.
Rather than honoring Norway's ruling, the Trump administration responded indignantly. A representative for the US State Department brushed off the moral dilemmas as "illegitimate claims."
Activists claim that Caterpillar's blind defense exposes a foreign policy in which Israeli objectives take precedence over international law or human rights, turning US diplomacy into a means of bolstering Israel's military.
Beyond only voicing grievances, the Trump administration started threatening Norway with violence. US officials claimed to be "engaging directly" with Norway, raising the possibility of retaliation.
Around the same time, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Palestinian human rights organizations Al-Haq, PCHR, and Al Mezan for their efforts to hold the Israeli government responsible for the war crimes in Gaza through the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Activists and observers claim that this conduct exposes American hypocrisy since, despite its rhetoric of a "rules-based order," it consistently subverts justice whenever it involves the Tel Aviv dictatorship.
Trump's larger pro-Israel policies, which have seen it provide the regime with deadly weapons despite international calls for a quick ceasefire, are compatible with Caterpillar's defense.
His administration armed Israel to the teeth, acknowledged illegal settlements, and relocated the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem.
Caterpillar, which depends on the backing of the US government to make money, has not issued a statement, content with its role in providing lethal equipment for occupation and devastation.
In a media release, Norway's finance minister, Jens Stoltenberg, stressed that the government had no direct say in the businesses that were part of the fund's holdings.
“The government is not involved in assessing individual companies,”
he said.
“The decision to exclude companies is an independent decision made by the Executive Board of Norges Bank, in accordance with the established framework. It is not a political decision.”
How has the US government formally engaged with Norway over the divestment?
U.S. Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a supporter of
Donald Trump, advised the U.S. administration to "adopt sanctions"
against Norway, including tariffs on Norwegian products and visa bans for
Norwegian officials who treated U.S. government securities irresponsibly.
As the U.S. seeks to engage, it wants to express its concerns about the ethical basis of the divestment and also potentially dissuade Norway from making further ethical-based divestments that harm American firms.
Notably, these political and diplomatic pressures reflect a wider tension between Norway's ethical investing theories connected to the war and U.S. interest in preserving American corporate interests.