EU hires Trump-linked lobbying firm to survive trade war

European Union diplomats in the United States have hired a prominent Republican-linked lobbying firm with ties to the first Donald Trump administration to advise on trade and investment communication strategy, according to documents seen by POLITICO.

"DCI Group AZ, LLC, shall advise the Delegation of the European Union to the US on communications and public engagement strategy for external stakeholder audiences, with an emphasis on promoting EU trade and investment in the United States,” said the form, filed to the US Foreign Agents Registry (FARA) on November 1, 2024.

The filing came days before Trump’s November 5 election victory, as the bloc’s 27 member countries scrambled to understand whether he would follow through on campaign threats to throw up a protective tariff wall around the US market.

So far he has hit China with universal import duties of 10 percent while giving Canada and Mexico stays of execution on even higher tariffs. He hasn’t yet targeted the EU directly, but has called its trade policy an "atrocity” and wants the continent to buy more American gas, cars and farm products.

The EU’s top trade official, Maros Sefcovic, has yet to meet Trump administration officials.

DCI Group said it had signed a contract with the EU delegation, serving under the auspices of the bloc’s diplomatic service, in Oct. 2024, according to the FARA disclosure, which is required of any group taking on work to further the interests of foreign governments.

When asked if the EU delegation hired DCI Group preemptively to deal with a second Trump presidency, the bloc’s diplomatic service did not respond.

It’s unclear how long DCI Group will have the contract with the EU delegation and how much the diplomatic service has paid the lobbying firm for their work.

When those questions were put to the European External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic service, they said: "The EU Delegation in the US engages different resources to advance public outreach across the United States. DCI is currently advising the Delegation on public communication with an emphasis on promoting EU trade and investment in the United States.”

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