Two lobbying firms that have made headlines recently for their proximity to President Donald Trump’s inner circle have a history of selling that access to foreigners looking to make money or, in some cases, to alter American policy.

Ballard Partners and Mercury Public Affairs, outfits viewed in Washington, D.C., as having some of the closest ties to the president, both rapidly accepted new foreign clients in the wake of Trump’s commanding victory. Public and private entities located in countries including China, Germany, France, India, and Ukraine have all flocked to the pair of lobbying shops in recent months, in some cases throwing around massive sums of money in the hopes of winning influence over the United States, according to a Washington Examiner review of public records.

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“Trump’s threats of tariffs, seizing foreign lands and deportations of immigrants and other policy positions has prompted a surge in foreign countries lobbying the United States,” Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist who specializes in government ethics and lobbying reform, told the Washington Examiner. “The primary beneficiaries are lobbying firms with very close connections with Trump, particularly Ballard Partners. The ‘America First’ rhetoric is spawning a wave of foreign intervention in American policies, and the lobbyists with inside connections to Trump are cashing in.”

Ballard Partners, for its part, has penned agreements with at least 15 foreign principals since Trump’s November 2024 victory, according to a Washington Examiner analysis of lobbying disclosures and Foreign Agent Registration Act records. 

The firm’s new clients include corporations owned or partially owned by Canadian, German, French, Singaporeans, Bermudan, Indian, Italian, Cayman, Swiss, or Mauritanian entities. Ballard also increased its fee to represent the Democratic Republic of Congo to $1.2 million per year following Trump’s victory and, right before Election Day, signed an agreement to represent the government of Sudan for an initial fee of $300,000, plus an additional $50,000 per month.

Deep-pocketed foreigners are likely flocking to Ballard Partners in hopes that having it on retainer will give them a foot in the door with the Trump administration. Ballard Partners, indeed, has a history of snagging wins for its clients through its links to the MAGA world. 

Brian Ballard, the namesake and head of Ballard Partners, has a roughly three-decadeslong relationship with the president. Ballard worked as a lobbyist for the Trump Organization well before the 2016 presidential election. During the 2016 campaign, he was one of Trump’s top fundraisers and served as one of the president’s senior staffers. His firm is staffed by veteran operatives from both parties. Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, is also an alum of the firm.

Multiple sources have shared anecdotes detailing how effective Ballard is at getting the president’s ear.

“One call to Brian Ballard, and the next thing I knew, I was on the stage with the president,” former Republican Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz told Mother Jones in 2017. He later noted that he was surprised by the “speed with which [Ballard is] able to access the Trump apparatus.” FARA records also show that Ballard’s firm has been able to get in touch rapidly with administration officials to advance the interests of its clients.

While many of the foreign principals Ballard represents are based out of countries generally friendly to the U.S., this is not always the case. Ballard’s client, Pirelli Tire, though based in Italy, counts the state-owned ​China National Chemical Corporation as its largest shareholder. The China National Chemical Corporation, in addition to generating profits for the Chinese Communist Party, also appears on the Department of Defense’s 1260h entity list, which means it is “directly or indirectly owned, controlled, or beneficially owned by” the Chinese military or it is a “military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base.”

“Pirelli Tire is subject to Italy’s ‘Golden Power’ rules, which in this instance limits Cinochem’s role in Pirelli,” a Ballard Partners spokesperson previously told the Washington Examiner. “Cinochem is a silent partner with no decision-making power, board influence, or any influence on the leadership, decision-making, and operations of the company. We will work with any company where such restrictions apply, or that seeks to free itself of control or ownership from state-owned Chinese companies.”

Beginning in September 2024, Ballard also lobbied on behalf of TikTok, a social media platform owned by the CCP-linked ByteDance. Lawmakers initially pursued a ban on the app over data security and national security concerns. One of Trump’s first actions in office was to issue an executive order that effectively halted the ban.

Corporations in France, Germany, and Canada, which have recently seen their relationship with the U.S. come under strain, are among Ballard Partner’s recent clients. 

LOBBYING FIRM WITH CLOSE TIES TO TRUMP WORKING TO ENRICH CHINESE GOVERNMENT

Attorney General Pam Bondi worked as a lobbyist at Ballard Partners prior to taking the lead at the Department of Justice. One of Bondi’s first acts as attorney general was to order the DOJ to stop punishing FARA infringements unless they involve “conduct similar to more traditional espionage by foreign government actors,” a move that benefited Ballard Partners and other firms with foreign clients. Bondi herself lobbied for Qatar, an Islamic petrostate aligned with Hamas and Iran, during her time at Ballard Partners. 

“It is troubling that Pam Bondi has simultaneously decided to withhold criminal enforcement of FARA violations,” Holman continued. “The first Trump administration was riddled with foreign principals secretly laundering money to Trump associates, such as Paul Manafort, in an effort to buy political favors. It is likely we will see this happen in the second term as well, given that the Trump 2.0 administration is stacked full of lobbyists easily influenced by their former employers and clients. There is a great deal of money to be made here, and that often brings temptation to skirt the lines.”

Critics previously accused DOJ officials of selectively enforcing FARA violations for political reasons. For example, Manafort and other Trump associates faced FARA prosecutions in 2017 despite the DOJ pursuing few FARA cases in the preceding decades. However, the DOJ under former President Joe Biden did not pursue a FARA case against Hunter Biden, despite public evidence that critics said warranted further investigation. Whistleblowers who worked on Hunter Biden’s case said investigators were effectively blocked from looking into the first son’s alleged FARA violations.

Ballard Partners isn’t the only Trump-linked firm on K Street that is pulling in clients. Mercury Public Affairs, where Wiles previously served as co-chairwoman, has signed at least seven agreements with seven foreign clients since Election Day, according to a Washington Examiner review of public records. Foreign principals from India, Ukraine, South Korea, and Canada are among those retaining the firm’s services.

Mercury’s foreign enterprises are especially lucrative. The firm is pulling in $85,000 a month representing a North Macedonian arms manufacturer, $100,000 per month representing a pro-Ukraine group based out of Canada, and $20,000 a month working on behalf of the South Korean government.

Ballard Partners seems poised to expand its foreign operations. It opened new office space in Saudi Arabia and forged alliances with public affairs firms in countries such as Italy and the United Kingdom.

Ballard Partners and Mercury Public Affairs did not respond to requests for comment.