CCP-linked firms ramp up lobbying, tap Trump-adjacent operatives
CCP-linked firms ramp up lobbying activity, tap Trump-adjacent operatives
At least eight American firms disclosed lobbying agreements with companies fully or partially owned by Chinese entities between March and April, a significant uptick from prior months, as President Donald Trump escalated a trade war with China, according to a Washington Examiner review of congressional and Department of Justice records.
The China-linked entities identified by the Washington Examiner as having recently hired lobbyists share varying degrees of connection to the Chinese government. The Chinese Communist Party heavily subsidizes some, the Chinese government partially owns others, and a handful have even entered partnerships with the CCP to advance Beijing’s interests. All of them are paying top dollar to influence policymaking in Washington, often with help from those close to Trump’s inner circle.
Ballard Partners and Mercury Public Affairs, two firms that D.C. insiders see as having some of the strongest relationships with the Trump administration, signed new Chinese clients between March and April.
Ballard Partners, for its part, filed paperwork on April 18 to represent the Beijing-based computer manufacturer Lenovo Group’s interests in “trade, computer and technology innovation, and other corporate related issues that may arise.”
Lenovo landed in hot water in late 2023 when members of the House Select Committee on the CCP accused the manufacturer of producing laptops that provided a backdoor for the Chinese government to spy on users. Lenovo denied these allegations.
In addition to the purported security vulnerabilities, lawmakers accused Lenovo of being “closely affiliated” with the Chinese government. Legend Holdings, an entity whose largest shareholder is the Chinese government, is itself the largest shareholder of Lenovo, possessing a 36% stake in the company. Lenovo has conceded that Legend Holdings has “some influence” over its operations but disputed that the Chinese government exerts “control” over it. The Chinese government has historically provided Lenovo with subsidies and loans.
While the Chinese government doesn’t control Lenovo on paper, its head is publicly sympathetic to the CCP. Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing was a member of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a government entity describing itself as working to integrate “Marxist-Leninist theories on the united front, political parties, and democratic politics with the unique realities and fine traditional culture of China.”
Since Trump’s commanding victory on election night in 2024, firms have flooded Ballard Partners with business owing to its Trumpworld ties. Lenovo isn’t the first Chinese-linked firm to take advantage of the influence Ballard is selling. The firm began representing Pirelli Tire, an Italian-based tire company in which the Chinese government holds a 37% stake, as of December 2024. A representative for Ballard Partners told the Washington Examiner in January that its decision to represent Pirelli was tied to the fact that the tire company was insulated from Chinese control thanks to Italian regulations.
“Lenovo employs thousands of Americans in North Carolina, and has headquarters in Morrisville, North Carolina,” a Ballard Partners spokesman told the Washington Examiner. “There is no controlling ownership interest nor operational control by the Chinese government in Lenovo. Ballard Partners will not represent companies owned or controlled by the Chinese government.”
Brian Ballard, the firm’s principal and namesake, has a nearly three-decade-long relationship with the president. Ballard worked as a lobbyist for the Trump Organization, acted as a major fundraiser for the president, and served in a senior role during the 2016 Trump campaign. Many Ballard Partners alums now hold high-level positions in the Trump administration, most notably Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles. William Russel, a former special assistant to the president from the first Trump administration, is working on the Lenovo account for Ballard Partners alongside Ballard himself.
Mercury Public Affairs, which has been compared to Ballard Partners due to its arsenal of Trump-adjacent lobbyists and high-powered alums, disclosed that it would be lobbying for Xiaomi Mobile Software in early March. Leaning into its Trump ties, Mercury assigned Bryan Lanza, who has held senior advisory and communications roles across Trump’s campaigns and transition teams, to work on behalf of the Chinese software subsidiary.
Xiaomi has received Chinese government subsidies and faced accusations of collecting and sharing user data with the CCP. During its final days, the first Trump administration’s Department of Defense placed Xiaomi on its list of firms linked to the Chinese military. This decision was reversed shortly after former President Joe Biden took office.
Some have accused Trump of going soft on China, especially compared to his first term. Observers see the president’s close relationship with Elon Musk, whose business interests rely heavily on China, as a vector for the CCP to influence the White House. Derek Scissors, a senior fellow at the right-of-center American Enterprise Institute, characterized the president as “China Dove,” citing his praise of Chinese President Xi Jinping, relationship with Musk, and fondness for social media app TikTok.
Trump, however, has ramped up his aggression against China in recent weeks, slapping the country with a 145% tariff. To the displeasure of some China hawks, he exempted Chinese smartphones, computers, and some other electronics from the tax.
Tapping Trump-linked talent to assist China-linked clients isn’t the sole domain of Ballard Partners and Mercury Public Affairs. Clark Hill Public Strategies assigned Jonathan Galaviz, a senior adviser during the first Trump administration, to help represent Maxeon Solar Technologies. Maxeon Solar Technologies is a Singaporean corporation whose largest shareholder, TCL Zhonghuan Renewable Energy Technology, is partially owned by the Chinese government and has received subsidies from the CCP.
“We represent a broad range of client organizations and companies from the EU, Asia, and Latin America,” a Clark Hill spokeswoman told the Washington Examiner. “We continue to be contacted by companies all around the world seeking our advice in this new era of global trade and tariff policy. Helping our international clients understand key American government priorities ultimately protects America’s strategic interests.”
Some of the Chinese clients represented by American firms, however, have worked to undermine America’s strategic interests.
XH Smart Tech, a Chinese digital security firm, is a partner in the CCP’s Belt and Road Initiative. This massive global program involves the Chinese government investing billions in third-world infrastructure projects in what American leaders view as an effort to gain influence over developing nations. The Chinese firm previously received an investment from the Tong Everbright Semiconductor Industry Investment Fund, managed by the state-owned China Everbright Limited.
XH Smart Tech signed an agreement with the law firm Rathmell Short on March 11 to represent its interests in the United States regarding “compliance with relevant United States laws and sanctions regulations” as well as to assist it in being removed from American sanction lists. Rathmell Short subcontracted Sonoran Policy Group, a firm that has Trump campaign veterans on staff, to assist with its advocacy on behalf of XH Smart Tech.
DHgate, an online Chinese wholesale marketplace, is another Belt and Road partner that recently registered a U.S. lobbyist to represent its interests as it relates to intellectual property protections and the U.S. trade representative’s notorious market list, which lists DHgate as an e-commerce vendor that “facilitate[s] substantial trademark counterfeiting or copyright piracy.” DHgate also signed an agreement with the Chinese government in 2018 “to jointly pursue research in the field of cross-border e-commerce.” Its CEO has helped facilitate trade agreements on behalf of China with Turkey and Peru. The company has been endorsed by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce.
Chinese firms with interests opposed to those of the U.S. have for years cut large checks to lobbyists to influence legislative and executive policy. A Daily Caller News Foundation analysis found that firms the Pentagon has determined are linked to the Chinese military spent roughly $24 million influencing American policy between January 2020 and April 2024.
Other Chinese-linked firms that recently bought American lobbyists include Midea Group, which is subsidized by the Chinese government and partnered with a state-owned corporation; Lexmark International, a printer manufacturer majority owned by Ninestar Corporation, which itself has been heavily subsidized by the Chinese government and accused by the U.S. government of profiting off Uyghur slave labor; ANT GROUP, an affiliate of the state-backed e-commerce giant Alibaba that itself has received government backing; and Li Ning (China) Sports Goods, China’s longtime outfitter for the Olympics.
The public will not know the full extent of how much this recent batch of Chinese companies paid to influence American policy until the lobbying firms representing them file their next quarterly reports. Rathmell Short, the firm representing XM Smart Tech, however, disclosed in documents submitted to the Department of Justice that it is slated to receive $5.5 million for its services.
Even once all the relevant disclosures are filed, people may still lack a full picture of China’s lobbying operations. Unregistered foreign agents, individuals paid to work on behalf of a sovereign nation without disclosing the arrangement to the DOJ, are a persistent problem in the U.S. Further obfuscating things, some countries, most recently Azerbaijan, have reportedly asked lobbyists not to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act to increase their efficacy and decrease transparency.
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