The move comes after US President Trump ended DEI hiring in the public sector and encouraged the private sector to do the same.
The goal is to overcome its differences, cooperation and integration along with other ways of working, the retailer said, being the latest US company to remove these principles, which means promoting the representation of races and ethnicities in the workplace.
Target said Friday it is scaling back programs aimed at promoting racial equity, called Racial Equity Action and Change (REACH), this year.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing federal agencies solve it Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs, encouraging private companies to do the same.
Companies have focused on diversity in their workforce for years, but DEI's current efforts began after the 2020 national protests over police shootings of unarmed black men.
However, in the past year, several major companies, including Walmart, Amazon, and Meta, abandoned their DEI policies under public scrutiny and after the November victory of Trump, who has long opposed DEI practices.
“Many years of knowledge, insight, listening and learning have been creating the next chapter of our strategy,” Target's director of corporate and justice Kiera Fernandez said in a memo, adding that it was important to adapt to the “changing” external image.
In 2022, Target pledged to sell more than $2bn in black businesses by the end of 2025 as part of its REACH goals.
The project also included plans to add more than 500 black-owned brands and a funding program from its media company, Roundel, to increase diversity exposure through pay-per-view channels.
The retailer added that it is changing its “Supplier Diversity” category to “Supplier Engagement” to better reflect its “global sourcing strategy”.
At a business conference in New York this month, Target CEO Brian Cornell said that the company's growth over the years has come down to investing in people and creating a culture of care and growth.
The company cited an internal survey to demonstrate its people-driven culture, saying that “seven out of 10 people feel they are treated like a person, not like an employee (of Target)”.
“In retail, we have the opportunity to change lives,” Cornell said at a keynote address at the National Retail Federation Conference.
Late last year, rival Walmart said it was also cutting back on its DEI efforts.
In contrast, on Thursday, the owners of Costco Wholesale voted strongly against the decision to request a report on the risks of maintaining its diversification and consolidation.
Minneapolis-based Target has come to terms with some of its predecessors.
In 2023, Target pulled LGBTQ ads from stores, citing increased tensions between shoppers and employees, as well as events that were thrown on the floor.
The company has sold LGBTQ-related products tied to Pride month for years but has faced widespread criticism for carrying the products, including from conservative newspapers and Republican politicians, who say some of its stores are marketed to children.