The CEO of the world's largest container-shipping company cautions that international firms have to be careful of taking political stances.

• What they're saying: "We cannot run a global business if we start to have views on politics in every single country that we are in," Maersk CEO Søren Skou tells "Axios on HBO."

Why it matters: Wanting to avoid political entanglement stands in contrast to the pressure some companies are under from customers, employees or shareholders to take stances on topics like human rights or freedom of expression.

Asked about how his company approaches relationships with Russia and China, Skou said Maersk's commitment is just to employees.

• "What we try to do is to provide good jobs to the people that are employed by us, give them a good wage so that they can live a good life, pay for their training and development, and in general be a good corporate citizen in every single country that we're operating in."