Editorial: Stopping Europe’s sustainability scheme is a winning issue for Republicans
Congressional Republicans have the chance to push back on a scheme that would raise costs on every American — and they should seize it.
The European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), adopted in May 2024, is a brazen attempt to impose European regulatory standards on American businesses. This directive, with its extraterritorial reach, threatens U.S. sovereignty, economic competitiveness, and corporate autonomy.
Congressional Republicans must seize the moment and escalate efforts to block the CSDDD. Opposing this scheme is both good politics and sound policy, offering a chance to rally voters and protect American interests.
The CSDDD requires companies, including U.S. firms with significant EU revenue, to conduct exhaustive due diligence on human rights and environmental impacts across global supply chains. It also mandates Paris Agreement-aligned climate transition plans, enforcing rigid net-zero targets.
While cloaked in the language of sustainability, the directive’s true impact is to subject American companies to European oversight, bypassing U.S. law. Unratified UN and OECD principles become binding, with non-compliance risking steep fines and civil liabilities in EU courts. This is not corporate responsibility — it’s regulatory imperialism at its worse.
Politically, opposing the CSDDD is a slam dunk for Republicans. The directive embodies the progressive climate and social justice agendas that GOP voters reject. On X, formerly Twitter, Senate Republicans like Bill Hagerty and the Senate GOP Conference have correctly called it an assault on U.S. sovereignty that could inflate costs for American families. Congressional sources told the Washington Reporter to expect more Republicans to speak out in coming weeks, indicating a groundswell of opposition.
By correctly calling the CSDDD as globalist overreach, Republicans can energize our voters and put the left on defense.
On the policy front, blocking the CSDDD is a no-brainer. Compliance costs, projected to be substantial, would force U.S. companies to overhaul operations and supply chains, stifling innovation and profitability. Imagine small companies in Arkansas being forced to disclose their supply chains to European bureaucrats.
The CSDDD also disrupts corporate governance. U.S. law prioritizes fiduciary duty to shareholders, but the directive’s stakeholder-centric model opens American firms to litigation risks from progressive, so-called “human rights” issues, which to the left means anything that socialists want. This puts liberal bureaucracy in charge of U.S. businesses and is a direct assault on our sovereignty.
Republicans are already fighting back. In February 2025, House and Senate leaders, including Reps. French Hill (R., Ark.), Ann Wagner (R., Mo.), and Andy Barr (R. Ky.), and Sens. Tim Scott (R., S.C.) and Bill Hagerty (R., Tenn.), pressed the Trump administration to back European efforts to pause the CSDDD and challenge its ridiculous scope. Hagerty’s “PROTECT USA” Act, introduced in March 2025, seeks to shield U.S. firms from foreign sustainability laws, barring compliance with the CSDDD and nullifying related foreign judgments. Senator Hagerty is smart to lead the way, and other Senate Republicans should follow.
The CSDDD is more than a European policy — it’s a challenge to America’s sovereignty. Republicans have a golden opportunity to lead on an issue that is good policy and good politics. By opposing this sustainability scheme, they can champion the free enterprise system, resist foreign overreach on climate hysteria issues, and keep U.S. businesses competitive.
Congress must act decisively to ensure American companies answer to American laws, not European bureaucrats. Stopping the CSDDD isn’t just a policy necessity — it’s a winning issue that could define Republican leadership for years to come.
