The US-Pakistan relationship has soared to new heights under Trump on the back of $5 million in lobbying that Pakistan has paid to US President Donald Trump’s friends to gain access and favourable deals, according to a report.
Since January, the US-Pakistan relationship has seen a sharp turnaround. The reason appears to be $5 million paid to President Donald Trump’s confidants.
Unlike his predecessor, Joe Biden, who did not even hold a phone call with a Pakistani leader in four years, Trump has met Pakistani leaders twice in White House, including an unprecedented meeting with Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir, and entered into lucrative deals with the country.
On the other hand, Trump has plunged the US-India relationship to the lowest point in the post-Cold War era with his tariffs, incendiary rhetoric, and consistently undermining India on core national policies ranging from terrorism to Kashmir and Operation Sindoor.
But this shift is not just rooted in Trump’s shifting priorities.
Instead, these shifts are rooted in $5 million that Pakistan has poured into lobbying firms run by Trump’s confidants, according to The New York Times.
The sum is nearly three times the money spent by India on lobbying.
The timeline of US-Pakistan engagements this year suggests that Pakistan’s lobbying firms have worked wonders.
Pakistan buys Trump’s attention — one contract at a time
Under Trump, everything has a price — even access to the White House.
Pakistan has entered into contracts with six lobbying firms for $5 million to gain expediated access to Trump and reach favourable deals, according to The Times.
And such an approach appears to have worked. Consider the timeline.
Weeks after Pakistan entered into a deal with Seiden Law LLP, which subcontracted Javelin Advisors, a government relations venture, Trump hosted Pakistan Army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir —the country’s de facto ruler— at the White House.
This is exactly what the contract with Seiden Law had assured. The contract signed on April 8 promised “a mutually agreed upon number of meetings to enhance Pakistani-US leadership level engagements at the White House”, according to The Times.
On April 8, Pakistan also signed a contract with Orchid Advisors, which then subcontracted with the firm Squire Patton Boggs, with the explicit purpose of getting tariffs reduced, The Times reported.
Originally, Trump had imposed 29 per cent tariff on Pakistan. Weeks after Pakistan and Orchid signed the contract “direct advocacy efforts with the Trump administration regarding tariffs and trade” and to “reset the diplomatic, military and commercial relationship”, he reduced tariff to 19 per cent. At the same time, Trump slapped 25 per cent additional tariff on India to raise total tariffs to 50 per cent — the highest in the world.
In addition to tariff relief and direct access to Trump, the United States and Pakistan have reached a $500 million deal for natural minerals’ extraction.
You can sort of look at the dots connecting themselves, said Michael Kugelman, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada.
“There were lobbyists charged with dealing with the tariff issue, then Pakistan’s tariffs come down. There are lobbyists contracted to promote economic cooperation, then you have all this interest from the U.S. in critical minerals and energy,” said Kugelman.
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