Dutch pension fund PME is issuing a blanket warning to U.S. money managers, amid concerns America’s investment industry is caving in to pressure from the Trump administration to abandon basic principles of stewardship.

They “aren’t condemning what Trump is doing and how he is operating and how he is handling issues like climate change and demolishing the judiciary,” Daan Spaargaren, senior strategist for responsible investing, said in an interview. “We are worried about that.”

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PME, with assets under management of about €57 billion ($65 billion), is the latest in a string of pension funds in Europe to express such concerns. Earlier this year, State Street lost mandates in Scandinavia and the U.K. after it withdrew from a major climate alliance for the industry. PME has already made clear it’s reviewing a €5 billion mandate with BlackRock, after the world’s largest asset manager quit a key net-zero coalition. It expects to make a decision in the coming weeks.

Spaargaren says PME has come to the conclusion that “existing frameworks on benchmarking different asset managers — the old frameworks — are not working anymore.”

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The administration of President Donald Trump has attacked the judiciary and is in the process of derailing America’s energy transition. It has also sought to wipe out diversity, equity and inclusion policies, dubbing these “illegal.”

It’s a political development that requires the investment industry to take a stand, Spaargaren said.

If asset managers “align their interests and their policies with the current administration in the U.S., then we are legitimizing also these steps and these practices by offering them our funds,” he said.

PME is now “evaluating” next steps, Spaargaren said. Whether it stays invested in companies — or holds on to existing external mandates — will depend on the outcome of a revised screening process the pension fund has introduced, he said.

The new filter will assess holdings based on parameters such as how well investments support good governance, freedom of association, as well as environmental considerations such as water scarcity. It will also automatically exclude passively managed equity investments in emerging markets because of the perceived environmental, social and governance risks.

Spaargaren says investors need to adapt to what’s become a fundamental split between values in Europe and those being promoted by the Trump administration.

“There is now a divide between European and American asset managers,” which is “quite” clear when it comes to engagement, active ownership, membership of climate initiatives and voting, he said. Key is watching how firms navigate the Trump administration, he said.

Others in Europe have made similar points. Last week, a senior portfolio manager at Allianz Global Investors warned that Republican policies under Trump mean the US may no longer offer a “reliable investment runway.”

PME currently uses a number of the biggest U.S. asset managers to help oversee its portfolio. The fund reviews those mandates on an annual basis, with the next update set for around June 30.

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