Foreign governments bet big to lobby Trump on tariffs. Most came up empty. [View all]

Countries across the globe have dropped tens of millions this year on lobbyists with ties to President Donald Trump as they rushed to stave off tariffs that could cripple their economies.

In most cases, the spending has gotten them nowhere.

As Trump has taken a scattershot approach to setting tariff rates — crafting trade agreements that set a 15 percent tariff on major trading partners while imposing rates that vary between 10 and 41 percent on the rest of the world — traditional lobbying tactics in Washington appear to have had little influence.

At least 30 nations hired new lobbyists with connections to Trump since the election. They include major trading partners like South Korea and Japan as well as smaller countries like Bosnia and Ecuador. But employing those lobbyists appeared to bear little relation to whether the countries were able to avoid the most punishing tariffs.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/foreign-governments-bet-big-lobby-110000011.html