India’s embassy in Washington has hired a lobbying firm with close ties to the Trump administration and a history of advocating for foreign entities targeted by the US, just before 50% tariffs take effect on exports from the South Asian country.
The embassy is paying $75,000 per month to Mercury Public Affairs LLC to provide government relations, media relations and other services, according to an Aug. 18 filing detailing the agreement.
White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is a former co-chair of Mercury. Mercury Partner Bryan Lanza, who previously served as communications director for President Donald Trump’s transition team, was listed among those working on the account, according to a separate disclosure.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Mercury didn’t respond to a request sent after business hours in the US.
The hiring comes as relations between the US and India have rapidly soured in recent months under Trump. Most recently, ties have frayed over the White House vow to impose 50% tariffs — set to take effect on Wednesday — on Indian goods as punishment for New Delhi’s continued purchases of Russian oil.
The White House has argued that the oil purchases fund Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, but Indian officials say they stabilize oil markets, adding that Washington had previously approved the purchases. The US is India’s No. 1 trading partner, and New Delhi worries that the tariffs could devastate exporters.
On Saturday, Trump nominated White House official Sergio Gor as ambassador to India, putting forward a close aide to fill a post that has been vacant since he returned to the White House. Indian officials have struggled to engage with the Trump administration in part because major foreign policy roles — including the ambassador post — have been empty for so long, Bloomberg News has reported.
“Trump waited over seven months until US-India ties had sunk to a new low to name an ambassador to India,” said Brahma Chellaney, professor emeritus of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi.
Still, Indian officials have recently stressed that good relations with the US remain a priority despite the tensions. Over the weekend, Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the US and India were continuing to negotiate over a sought-after trade deal despite the recent setbacks. As trade talks have stalled, Trump has slammed India as a “dead” economy with “obnoxious” trade barriers.
Mercury has a track record of lobbying on behalf of foreign clients who have come into Washington’s crosshairs. For example, the firm earlier this year disclosed a contract with the Embassy of Denmark, which has opposed Trump’s push to take control of its self-ruling territory of Greenland.
Mercury also previously represented several Chinese companies targeted by Trump. In 2018, Mercury lobbied for the US arm of Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co., targeted by the US over its work on surveillance projects in the Chinese region of Xinjiang. Mercury has also lobbied on behalf of sanctioned Chinese telecom firm ZTE Corp.
Separately, Gautam Adani has also been bolstering his Washington lobbying operation since Trump took over the White House. The Indian tycoon — Asia’s second-richest person and a confidante of Prime Minister Narendra Modi — is contesting charges of involvement in an alleged bribery scheme.
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