India Hires Mercury Public Affairs To Lobby Trump Administration Amid Trade Tensions

India has hired lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs LLC to represent its interests with the administration of US President Donald Trump, as bilateral tensions rise amid trade talks.

The firm, which “once employed current White House chief of Staff Susie Wiles,” has designated two senior partners — David Vitter, a former Republican Senator from Louisiana, and Bryan Lanza, who earlier served as communications director for Trump’s campaign — to work on India’s behalf.

According to disclosures by Mercury Global Affairs LLC, the company operates 14 offices across the United States and represents about 550 clients worldwide. Its services include “crisis management, grassroots coalition building, public affairs campaign management and political consulting.”

India will be paying Mercury $75000 per month for "public relations, communication, and government relations advice and services, including outreach to US media and government officials," Hindustan Times reported.

With this new arrangement, India’s overall lobbying expenses in Washington DC have climbed to $275,000 per month. New Delhi already maintains a $150,000-a-month agreement with SHW Partners LLC, run by former Trump adviser Jason Miller.

Additionally, India retains BGR Partners for $50,000 per month; BGR ranks among the top three lobbying firms in Washington by revenue and has previously represented countries such as South Korea, Serbia, Panama and Cyprus, as per Hindustan Times.

The heightened spending comes just ahead of August 27, when a 25% tariff penalty on Indian goods is scheduled to take effect, on top of an existing 25% reciprocal tariff already in force.

This comes against the backdrop of the United States' penalty tariff on India for the country's continued imports of Russian oil. While Trump, on August 14, said that the tariffs imposed on India for purchasing Russian oil prompted Moscow to seek talks with the US, because Russia was losing its second largest customer — India. 

The remarks came ahead of Trump’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska where the two met to discuss a possible ceasefire in Ukraine. India, however, said that it has not halted the purchase of Russian oil and continues to purchase solely based on economic considerations, PTI reported.