Sen. McCormick demands Trump hit back at Norway over Israel divestiture

Sen. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) blasted Norway’s sovereign wealth fund for dumping shares of Caterpillar over its ties to Israel, demanding the Trump administration hit back with tariffs, sanctions and other punishments.

In a fiery letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the Pennsylvania Republican accused Oslo of waging “economic warfare directed by a foreign government against the US economy.”

News of the letter was reported by Jewish Insider.

The missive was sent after The Post’s Charles Gasparino reported on Friday that Norway’s sovereign wealth fund divested from Israel while maintaining business ties with serial violators of human rights such as China, Qatar and Turkey.

“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 Thursday.

The fund at the center of the fight, Norges Bank Investment Management, manages more than $1.6 trillion, including nearly $1 trillion in US assets.

Its ethics council voted this spring to dump Caterpillar stock, citing the Israeli military’s use of its bulldozers in Gaza and the West Bank.

“As he said in the letter, Senator McCormick feels strongly that the administration should take action when sovereign wealth funds engage in economic warfare that is driven by political pressure which is anti-American and anti-Israel,” a spokesperson for the senator told The Post.

“He had a constructive conversation with the Norwegian prime minister, but came away very concerned that this is a prime example of this type of troubling behavior.”

McCormick — a former Bridgewater Associates chief executive who has sparred with Norwegian leaders — warned the decision was part of a larger anti-Israel agenda.

“I respectfully disagree,” he wrote after Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told him the move was not political.

“While I recognize the value of Norges’ investments of nearly $1 trillion of US assets, I have significant concerns that these decisions are entirely political and are driven by an agenda that has consistently targeted American companies and is explicitly anti-Israel.”

He urged the Trump administration to “put all options on the table,” including tariffs on Norwegian goods, blocking Norges’ access to American financial markets and even visa sanctions on officials involved.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has already floated similar retaliation, blasting Norway’s decision last week as an attack on America’s closest Middle East ally.

McCormick also fired off a separate letter to Norway’s ambassador in Washington, warning that he “remain[s] extremely concerned” by what he called politically driven divestment.

“I brought this issue up directly with Prime Minister Støre and was unsatisfied with his response,” McCormick wrote.

The episode has thrown Caterpillar, a perennial target of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, back into the center of the US-Israel political firestorm.

The Illinois-based construction giant has long faced criticism for its bulldozers’ role in Israeli military operations, but American lawmakers see the latest divestment push as a dangerous escalation by a foreign government.

McCormick stressed that Caterpillar isn’t the first victim. Norges has also pulled out of American fossil fuel and defense firms, even ones whose weapons Norway itself purchases.

He warned the administration to “look more broadly at instances of sovereign wealth funds adopting restrictive, unfair trade policies against US companies as a result of political pressure.”

Bridgewater, the Connecticut-based hedge fund McCormick ran from 2020 to 2022, manages slices of Norges’ massive portfolio. Its chief investment officer Greg Jensen even addressed Norges’ 2024 investment conference.

That tie hasn’t stopped McCormick from torching his onetime partner. He said he confronted Norwegian leaders directly last month in Oslo, pressing them to reverse the Caterpillar divestment.

Norges’ clout looms large across the world’s financial markets. Richard Goldberg, a senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former White House official, told Jewish Insider the fund sets the tone for global capital flows.

“Norges is such a large player … It moves capital markets with its decisions,” Goldberg said.

“It causes other sovereign wealth funds, pension funds to follow. It causes institutional investors to follow. It really does set trends in investment and an inversion of capital can have impacts.”

Goldberg said Norway’s upcoming elections could turbocharge divestment pressure, with left-wing parties vowing to blacklist more American companies tied to Israel.

“The danger of weaponized sovereign wealth funds … is an ongoing and growing issue,” he warned.

“This is a long-standing attack on US interests, attack on American energy companies, an attack on American defense companies and now an attack on any company that does business with the State of Israel — all of this to the detriment of our national economic security, all of it politicized by the Norwegians by a state-run, state-controlled entity.”

If Washington shrugs off the issue, Goldberg added, “we’re literally allowing supposed democratic allies for whom we provide a blanket of freedom the ability to conduct economic warfare against America and American interests.”

The Commerce Department has not said whether it will respond to the Norwegian fund’s Caterpillar decision.

The Post has sought comment from McCormick, Graham, Greer, Lutnick and the Norwegian government.