India hires US lobbying firm with Trump connection ahead of 50% tariff hike on exports

The Indian Embassy in Washington DC has hired a second lobbying firm to provide strategic communications services including federal lobbying, media relations, digital audit, social media strategy and advertising, as per a Times of India report. The move comes just days ahead of the double whammy 50 per cent tariff on Indian exports to US.

The Embassy of India signed a $ 75,000 monthly retainer contract for three months with Mercury Public Affairs starting August 15, said TOI.

Mercury partners David Vitter (a former Louisiana Republican Senator), and Bryan Lanza (communications director for the 2020 Trump transition team) will represent the India account, supported by a four member team that includes Kevin Thomas, first Indian-American elected to the New York State Senate.

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Mercury has ties with Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who was a registered lobbyist with the firm till November 2024 when she joined the White House.

Lanza was the Deputy Communications Director for the Trump-Pence Presidential Campaign in 2016. He also served as a consultant to J.D. Vance during his Senate campaign.

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.

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It is not unusual for foreign countries and other major client to hire more than one lobbying firm (sometimes up to six) since they perform different functions.

The latest hiring came after criticism in some quarters about New Delhi being outplayed by Pakistan, which hired a firm led by former Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller to get a leg up on India, which had hired another former Trump aide Jason Miller's firm in April this year. India's year-long contract with Miller's firm SHW Partners LLC costs the Indian taxpayer $1.8 million at a monthly fee of $150,000.

President Trump has doubled tariffs on Indian goods to a whopping 50 per cent, including a 25 per cent additional duties for India's purchase of Russian crude oil that will come into effect from August 27.

Defending its purchase of Russian crude oil, India has been maintaining that its energy procurement is driven by national interest and market dynamics.

India turned to purchasing Russian oil sold at a discount after Western countries imposed sanctions on Moscow and shunned its supplies over its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

(With TOI inputs)