France warns construction giant Lafarge against participating in Trump’s wall project
RT.com
9 Mar, 2017
The French government has warned the French-Swiss firm LafargeHolcim over plans to sell cement for the building of the US-Mexico border wall, the Local France reported.
On Thursday, Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault called on the company to “think carefully” before supplying material to construct the wall, insisting it had social and environmental accountability.
The building of a wall along the border between the United States and Mexico was ordered by US President Donald Trump in January to stop illegal immigration. The cost of the project is estimated at $8 billion to $14 billion, but experts say the cost will be much higher, at up to $25 billion.
“We are prepared to supply our materials to all types of infrastructure projects in the United States,” LafargeHolcim chief executive Eric Olsen told AFP.
“We are the leader in cement, so we supply all our customers,” he said. “We are here to support the building and development of the United States.”
The world’s leading building materials company LafargeHolcim was created in 2015 by the merger of French cement manufacturer Lafarge and its Swiss counterpart Holcim.
Lafarge faced accusations of paying taxes to the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in 2013-2014 to continue operations in northern Syria. Last week the company admitted providing funds to “certain armed groups” and “sanctioned parties” in Syria when it faced operational and security challenges. Lafarge called the decision “unacceptable.”
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