Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) demanded the Trump administration retaliate against Norway’s sovereign wealth fund after reports that the fund divested shares of Caterpillar Inc. over the company’s ties to Israel. In a letter sent Thursday to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, McCormick called on the administration to levy tariffs, sanctions and other punitive measures.
"As the Trump administration continues to take bold action to rebalance global trade, I urge you to also address the disturbing politicization of sovereign wealth fund investment decisions against American companies," McCormick wrote, accusing Oslo of waging "economic warfare directed by a foreign government against the US economy." The letter, first reported by Jewish Insider, followed a New York Post report by Charles Gasparino that said Norges Bank Investment Management divested from Israel while maintaining business ties with countries including China, Qatar and Turkey.
Norges Bank Investment Management, the fund at the center of the dispute, manages more than $1.6 trillion in assets and holds stakes in many global companies, including U.S. firms. McCormick singled out the fund’s decision to reduce or eliminate holdings tied to Caterpillar, a major American construction and heavy-equipment manufacturer, and framed the move as a politicized economic attack with potential consequences for U.S. workers and shareholders.
The senator urged the Commerce Department and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to consider a range of responses, from tariffs to sanctions, to deter sovereign wealth funds from using investment decisions as instruments of foreign policy against American companies. McCormick described such measures as necessary to protect U.S. economic interests and to push back against what he characterized as unfair and politically motivated divestments.
The New York Post article cited by McCormick said the fund had divested from entities tied to Israel while continuing to hold assets in jurisdictions whose human rights records have drawn scrutiny. The Post report attributed that pattern to the investment decisions of Norges Bank; the report did not include immediate comment from Norges Bank or from Caterpillar.
McCormick’s letter adds to broader debate in Washington over how the United States should respond when foreign state-backed investors take actions that affect American companies. Sovereign wealth funds frequently adjust holdings for financial and, at times, political reasons; they also are major investors in U.S. equity markets. The law governing trade remedies and sanctions typically requires interagency review and legal justification before punitive measures are imposed.
As of publication, neither the Commerce Department nor the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative had publicly responded to McCormick’s letter. Norges Bank Investment Management did not immediately issue a statement to the media about the specific divestment allegations attributed in the Post report. The matter is likely to prompt additional scrutiny among lawmakers who have pressed for stronger oversight of foreign state-linked investment in U.S. companies.
McCormick’s demand for an aggressive U.S. response underscores tensions in Washington over how to reconcile trade and national-security priorities with global investment flows. Any formal U.S. action against a sovereign wealth fund would carry diplomatic consequences and could intensify scrutiny of both the fund’s investment policies and the broader role of state-directed capital in global markets.