Do foreign firms engage in domestic politics, and if so, why? I argue that foreign firms, impacted by US policies, employ subsidiaries in the US to represent their political interests in federal elections. Using original data collected for the population of corporate givers during the 2014 and 2016 election cycles, I find US subsidiaries of foreign firms to be significantly more politically active than similarly sized American firms located in the same industry. These subsidiaries are much more likely to sponsor a Political Action Committee and donate in greater amounts. I explore a variety of explanations for this disproportionate political activity, and demonstrate that it is driven in part by the foreign parent firms’ desire to gain a political foothold in the United States. Foreign direct investment therefore serves as an investment in political influence.
Who testifies on US trade agreements before Congress and what do they say? We examine the content of Congressional testimony on US trade agreements, and the selection process which determines who testifies in the first place. We find that testimony is systematically tilted toward a sunny view of trade's positive economic effects, while import competition and offshoring are generally downplayed. We argue that trade's supporters strategically frame their motives for supporting trade agreements, and that pro‐trade committee chairs’ decisions on who testifies further skew testimony away from the distributive consequences of globalization within the United States. Congressional hearings on trade agreements therefore represent a key site where the influence of dominant pro‐trade interests is both revealed and reinforced.
How much of lobbying activities disclosed under the Lobbying Disclosure Act (LDA) actually represent foreign clients? What are their interests? By identifying the global ultimate owners of all corporate clients filing with the LDA, I find that majority‐owned subsidiaries of foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) account for nearly 20% of corporate lobbying spending in 2015–2016. This amount is comparable to the entire foreign lobbying spending reported under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Domestic subsidiaries of foreign MNCs are also found to lobby more frequently and spend more lobbying than American multinationals, after controlling for firm size, industry, and PAC contributions. These subsidiaries actively lobby on issue areas that clearly benefit their foreign parents. The findings suggest that foreign MNCs may actively influence U.S. policies through their domestic subsidiaries, and that the FARA captures only part of foreign lobbying in the United States.
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