Feb 24 (Reuters) - Colgate-Palmolive ( CL ) told the

National Legal and Policy Center that it intends to ask

investors to vote against the conservative shareholder group's

proposal to remove DEI-related ​criteria in the company's

selection process for ‌its board members, according to a letter

viewed by Reuters.

The NLPC's proposal ⁠comes as several companies including

Goldman Sachs ( GS ), Walmart ( WMT ), Target ( TGT ) and ⁠Meta

dropped or considered altering their diversity, ‌equity

and inclusion (DEI) policies ‌as U.S. President Donald Trump and

conservative groups in the country ramp ​up pressure on firms to

curtail ‌these programs.

Companies added or beefed up their DEI programs starting in

2020 amid the Black ​Lives Matter movement, but ​they have ‌rolled

back their DEI commitments over the past year as pressure

mounted from the Trump administration.

Colgate would join a ⁠small list of companies such as Costco

and ⁠Apple in sticking to their DEI policies

over the past year. The company said in its response to the NLPC

that about two-thirds of its net sales came ⁠from ‌markets outside

the United States.

"It is important that ‌our directors bring a broad range of

skills, experiences, perspectives ⁠and backgrounds to the Board,"

the company said in its response submitted to the NLPC on

Monday.

Colgate did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for

an independent comment on the matter.

Colgate in its 2025 proxy statement said that three of its

director ​nominees were "members of underrepresented

communities," but the NLPC stated that the company did not

explain what "underrepresented" meant.

Bloomberg News first reported ​on Colgate's response to ‌the

NLPC.