As Trump-driven trade policies shake India-US trade relations, India enlists top-tier US lobbying firms to fend off mounting tariffs and counter Russian oil sanctions. With Mercury Public Affairs and SHW Partners at the helm, India’s embassy lobbying strategy signifies growing urgency around sustaining exports and political bridges amid economic pressures.
India Escalates US Lobbying Efforts Amid Mounting Tariff Threat
The sudden jolt to the U.S.-India diplomatic dynamic has sent New Delhi reeling, as trade tensions surge under renewed leadership from former President Donald Trump. In light of India’s economic future in clear and present danger with punitive tariffs hiking up and up, the decision this week to bring a second lobbying firm in Washington on board gives us an image of high pressure, of scrambling for strategic defence. Amid a rising tide of trade barriers and fraught energy politics, India is waging a multipronged battle to safeguard its global interests and restore its position toward the United States.
India Enlists Second Lobbying Firm in US as Tariff Deadline Looms
Just days before the Donald Trump approved 50% tariffs on Indian exports are set to hit, India’s embassy in Washington D.C. has too signed for their second U.S. based lobbying firm, Mercury Public Affairs, the latest lining in the sand drawn in their fight to counteract the new American trade penalties. The move comes on the back of a tightrope-walk over India’s purchases of Russian energy after Russia’s war with Ukraine led to punitive measures from the US administration.
Mercury Public Affairs Joins India’s Embassy Lobbying Force
Mercury Public Affairs, a firm with deep connections to top Trump officials, will offer the Indian government federal government relations services during this three month gig. India will pay Mercury $75,000 a month from mid-August to mid-November, or $225,000. Three people are involved in the account, including Bryan Lanza, a senior official at the PR firm Mercury and former communications director for Trump’s transition team, which represents a strategy of having direct access to the White House, The Daily Beast reports.
Why Did India Bring in a Second Lobbying Firm?
The readiness of the Indians to step up lobbying to capture U.S. governors is primarily related to an increased economic and geopolitical clash. Relations between the two countries turned rough after Trump levied a 25 percent retaliatory tariff on Indian imports (and demanded a halt to Indian purchases of Russian oil) when India declined his request. The second hike, the 25 percent tariff, which increases the count to 50 percent, places Indian exports in direct jeopardy.
India Strengthens Lobbying with SHW Partners and Jason Miller Contract
With this imminent financial disaster on the horizon, India upped its lobbying game by hiring Mercury Public Affairs to add to its current retinue of SHW Partners LLC, formed by Trump’s former advisor Jason Miller. He and the company he worked for at the time, SHW Partners, had been contracted for $1.8 million, far more than the Mercury agreement. Together, the partnerships represent an 11th-hour diplomatic push to influence key power brokers before the deadline on tariffs set in.
Trump’s Tariffs and India’s Trade Calculus
India has had serious fallout from trade decisions during the Trump administration. Indian exports, particularly in textiles, pharmaceuticals and auto components, will also face cost pressures from import duties. The 25 percent retaliatory tariff from India was initially perceived as a retaliatory measure but the additional 25 percent from the U.S. would effectively erode any price advantage India has enjoyed in the U.S. market.
Secondary Tariff Impact and Trump Administration Sanctions
Washington presents these sanctions as a means of applying pressure to discourage oil trade with Moscow, but New Delhi sees the penalties as unfair and damaging. The economic risk is even worse if the loss of billions in trade revenue disrupts India’s supply chain ecosystems and labor-intensive domestic industries.
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India-Russia Oil Trade: Stabilizing Factor or Geopolitical Gamble?
The trade tension has it roots deeply in India’s continued purchases of oil from Russia. Western democracies, which include the U.S. and EU, have implemented full-scale sanctions ever since the invasion of Ukraine with the hope of undermining the resource-dependent Russian revenue streams. But India has remained one of Moscow’s few large customers for energy, choosing cost-effective crude oil imports that are crucial to its energy requirements.
India Defends Strategic Energy Autonomy
While India insists its neutral stance is vital to its strategic autonomy, U.S. officials view it as tacit support for the Kremlin. Trump’s administration has specifically cited India’s refusal to lower its Russian oil imports as a rationale for more stringent economic actions. The White House’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, suggested he is counting on the full tariffs to go through unless India thinks twice, adding urgency and weight to the American demand.
Embassy Lobbying Strategy Reflects Diplomatic Calculus
India has also been publicly assertive in its stance of pursuing its energy engagements in its own national interest. But in diplomatic terms, its moves are showing an apparent pivot toward talks and the reduction of tensions. With its intensified lobbying in the US capital, New Delhi is deliberately trying to create some room for back-channel negotiations and show that it has a broader logic behind its policy.
India Plays the Diplomacy Versus Pragmatism Game
It is also an indication that India recognises the growing wedge between the two and seeks to stave off further decay in bilateral relations. Up until now, India has adhered to its official-issue neutral stand on external wars, but now it will have to play the diplomacy-vs-pragmatism game to save its export economy.
Mercury Public Affairs India Strategy and Proximity to Power
It is no coincidence that Mercury Public Affairs was chosen. The firm is particularly well known for its government relations practice, and has registered to lobby on behalf of a number of foreign governments, including those of Japan, South Korea, Ecuador, and Libya. She taking this last name and the Mercury name with him too: Susie Wiles (now Trump’s chief of staff at the White House) was with Mercury until the end of 2024 to really drive home the appearance of close proximity to power.
David Vitter, Mercury Network, and White House Access
Selecting Mercury indicates India hopes to put in place persuasive channels directly linked to the people who shape current White House view. With Trump’s erratic negotiating style and transactional diplomacy, India’s engagement with multiple Trump-world insiders might be the only option that Delhi has to secure exemptions or lower tariffs.
India Joins Global March Toward Beltway Influence
India is not the only country that is doing so. More than 30 countries so far, including several U.S. allies and trade partners, have hired lobbyists connected to Trump since his return to the White House, according to reports. They are increasingly seeing lobbying as not just one of the optional tools of diplomacy but an essential one in the disorderly terrain of Trump-era trade politics.
SHW Partners Lobbying & India’s Bilateral Pressure Tactics
India’s duopoly design is also a recognition of the increasing value of bilateral lobbying strategies within the beltway. It is on a par with the aggressive lobbying tactics employed by various countries seeking to have their interests advanced or opposing those of countries with which they are in competition in the U.S. marketplace.
What Comes Next for India-US Trade Relations?
Key for India’s imminent trade path are the next few days. The tariff deadline looms ominously. India’s diplomats in Washington are likely to step up their outreach, both diplomatically as well as through new lobbying muscle that has been put in place over the past few months. The optimism hinges, presumably, on delaying or watering down a second wave of tariff increases.
Legal and Multilateral Options under Review
Meanwhile, India could also look to legal instruments or the WTO if talks on trade break down. But the political mood has swung decisively in favor of one-sided enforcement, which dilutes the influence of dispute mechanisms.
Shifting Strategy: Trade Diversification and Domestic Stimulus
India also needs to proceed quickly in diversifying markets to guard against becoming too dependent on trade with the United States. Back in their home countries, meanwhile, governments may have to contemplate stimulus measures to shield sectors under pressure as the tariffs take their toll.
High Stakes Behind Closed Doors
As real diplomacy plays out behind closed doors, India’s move to double down on lobbying firepower is a clear sign it sees the crisis with Washington as an urgent and solveable one – if the right levers are pulled in the right rooms.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did India hire Mercury Public Affairs as its second US lobbying firm?
India hired Mercury Public Affairs to intensify its lobbying strategy in Washington amid escalating trade tensions with the Trump administration. With their insider access and ties to Trump-aligned officials, Mercury can help India influence Trump-era tariff enforcement and mitigate the consequences of the US-India trade strain.
How does the Trump India tariffs policy affect Indian exports?
The new Trump India tariffs, especially the 50% import duties, threaten India’s key export sectors such as textiles, pharmaceuticals, and auto components. These added costs make Indian goods less competitive in the U.S. market and could result in billions of dollars in export losses.
What role does India Russia oil trade play in the tension?
India's continued crude oil trade with Russia post-Ukraine war has intensified scrutiny from the U.S., which imposed Russian oil sanctions. Trump's administration cited these imports as justification for economic penalties, viewing India’s neutrality as unfavorable in the conflict landscape.
Is lobbying a common diplomatic tool in US-India relations?
Yes, embassy lobbying through firms like SHW Partners and Mercury Public Affairs has become an increasingly vital tool for India to sway U.S. policymakers. In Trump's transactional diplomatic climate, lobbying acts as a real-time mechanism to influence punitive policy changes and preserve India US trade relations.
Reference
India Hires Second Lobbying Firm in US to Tackle Trump’s Oil Tariff Threat
