Countries have spent tens of millions this year since President Donald Trump’s inauguration for lobbying with Washington, though the spending largely has gotten them nowhere, a Politico report revealed, as the countries are now finding their ways through Trump’s tariffs. From major trading partners like South Korea and Japan to smaller countries like Bosnia and Ecuador brought on lobbying firms to avoid punishing tariffs. The report said the Pakistani government brought on seven new lobbying firms this year, including “Trump’s former bodyman Keith Schiller and George Sorial, the Trump Organization’s former compliance chief”. Pakistan agreed to pay this firm $50,000 per month and Islamabad managed to lower its reciprocal tariff rate from 29 per cent to 19 per cent, the report said. India brought on longtime Trump adviser Jasim Miller on board in April and inked a year-long contract with Miller worth $1.8 million in exchange for “strategic counsel, tactical planning and government relations assistance”. Mexico did not hire any new firm but relied on President Claudia Sheinbaum’s direct approach to Trump, the report said. Mukesh Aghi, the CEO of the US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, told Politico that the current leadership is not doing things in the traditional way. “I think the current leadership in Washington seems to be disrupting the traditional way of doing things. It’s not just about the business part, it’s about diplomacy, it’s about dealing with other nations,” Aghi said. “I think the whole old model of trying to influence does not seem to work.”Among the lobbying firms, Mercury Public Affairs signed five new foreign governments since November, including South Korea, Ecuador and Libya. It also lobbies for Japan, but Ballard Partners, another lobbying firm, helped broker a phone call between Trump and Japanese PM Shigeru Ishiba the day after the election. BGR Group lobbied for Angola and South Korea which saw their tariff rates drop between April and August, the report said adding that the Indian government also paid it $300,000 from December through May. “Even after this week’s tariff implementation kickoff, countries and lobbyists are still holding out hope that they can win exceptions or other helpful provisions,” the report said.
