While Israeli and Qatari foreign spending has dominated the online discourse in Washington, D.C., Foreign Agents Registration Act data shows that those two nations have actually dialed back their spending in recent years, and have been surpassed by a host of countries less commonly associated with foreign influence efforts.
Israel and Qatar, which had once been the top foreign spenders, were outspent by Saudi Arabia, Japan, China, and South Korea in 2024, a Washington Examiner analysis of data compiled by OpenSecrets has found. Much like Israel and Qatar, these nations have business before the United States government that they seek to facilitate by dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into offices full of lobbyists in downtown D.C.
Foreign principals based in Japan spent $48.5 million, the most of any country in 2024, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets. The largest slice of this sum was disbursed by the Japan External Trade Organization, a government-linked nonprofit organization that works to strengthen commercial relations between Tokyo and the rest of the world by promoting investment in Japan and importing Japanese goods.
A review of FARA records shows that agents working on behalf of JETRO were relatively successful in securing influence for their patron. During 2024, JETRO secured meetings with powerful American politicians such as Gov. Greg Abbot (R-TX), Gov. Tate Reeves (R-MS), Gov. Phil Murphy (D-NJ, and Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK). JETRO held several expos, lectures, seminars, and other events aimed at increasing Japan’s commercial links to the United States.
Japan also has a robust congressional lobbying outfit, relying primarily on the firms Hogan Lovells and Akin Gump to represent its interests in Congress, especially concerning international trade, defense, and economic development. Japanese companies are ramping up their efforts to sway U.S. policy, with corporations based in the country increasing their lobbying expenditures by 8% year-over-year, specifically in the automobile, electronics, chemical, steel, and communications industries, Nikkei reported in June.
Data submitted to the Department of Justice related to FARA expenditures don’t necessarily represent the reality, as the data fails to account for unregistered foreign agents. Both Israel and Qatar have been accused by their respective critics of flouting U.S. law by employing under-the-table foreign influence efforts. Indeed, there is some evidence that both nations have engaged in unregistered foreign influence efforts.
Al-Jazeera, a media outlet owned by the Qatari government, has failed to register under FARA despite receiving a DOJ order to do so in 2020. An August 2024 investigation conducted by the Guardian, on the other hand, found that Israeli officials sought to create an American nonprofit and use it as a puppet organization to get around FARA requirements.
Unregistered foreign agents are not a uniquely Israeli or Qatari phenomenon.
Korea Pro reported on Wednesday, for instance, that the Korea Foundation, which provides millions of dollars in funding to U.S. think tanks, has its leadership appointed by the South Korean government and receives the bulk of its budget from Seoul. This arrangement has led some legal experts to argue that the foundation should have to register under FARA. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, has reportedly attempted to persuade its lobbyists not to register under FARA, in brazen defiance of the law.
Many critics would likely point to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as another example of an unregistered actor working on behalf of a foreign government. However, given the evidence available, legal experts tend to agree that AIPAC does not meet the requirements for registering under FARA. The relevant legislation defines foreign agents as those that act “at the order, request, or under the direction or control” of a foreign government or, in some cases, a foreign private entity. When determining if an organization should register under FARA, the DOJ will often consider factors such as foreign government funding or government control over operations. AIPAC is primarily funded and run by American citizens.
It is possible that AIPAC’s 501(c)(4) arm could be receiving funding from foreign nationals. However, the organization keeps its donors private, so there is no way to know. Even if AIPAC were receiving such funds, how it could use them would be limited.
Unregistered foreign agents may be emboldened under the second Trump administration, as Attorney General Pam Bondi has signaled that her DOJ will not be prosecuting FARA violations unless they reach the level of “espionage.”
Qatar and Israel both work aggressively to shape American media coverage of their pet issues. The Washington Examiner previously reported that Qatar, for instance, massively ramped up its targeting of conservative media. Those agents succeeded in booking a high-profile interview with Tucker Carlson, and several conservative outlets published favorable coverage of Qatar shortly after being reached by the country’s agents.
Israel plays a similar game.
Records show that agents working on behalf of the Jewish state have reported sending well over 100 communications to members of the media since January 2024. These communications span op-ed pitches to major publications such as the New York Times and Washington Post, outreach to cable news outlets, including CNN and Fox, and alternative media such as the Daily Wire and Breitbart.
Qatar also directs agents to provide lawmakers with informational briefs on the Gulf nation’s strategic value to the United States, with agents recently highlighting its mediation role in the Israel-Hamas conflict. These agents have succeeded in getting at least one senator to echo their talking points, the Washington Examiner previously reported. Israeli foreign agents also disseminate favorable information about their patron state to congressional offices.
China is another country that gets a lot of press for its efforts to exert influence within the United States. Its FARA spending exploded in 2019 after the DOJ ordered Xinhua News Agency and China Global Television Network, state-run media outlets operating under the CCP, to register as foreign agents. In 2018, Chinese foreign principals spent $16.9 million on influence operations. That number jumped to $68.6 million in 2019. Spending remained high in subsequent years, peaking at $85.4 million in 2023 and declining to $32.9 million in 2024.
According to a 2022 academic paper published by scholars at King’s College in London, Chinese state media seeks to produce content that portrays the U.S. as “poorly governed, plutocratic, racist, and a destabilizing international influence” in contrast to a China that is “well governed, benign, stable, and a rising superpower.” Chinese state-run media have also run cover for the CCP’s human rights abuses, such as its repression of the Uyghurs.
The Washington Examiner previously reported that Google promoted Chinese state-run media to users through its Google News dashboard and that Meta was accepting payments from these entities to promote their content to users.
In addition to media operations, Chinese corporations, often boasting links to the CCP, will sometimes use American lobbyists in efforts to dislodge sanctions or otherwise unfavorable government rulings.
A previously unreported instance of this occurred on the eve of the 2024 election when Hikvision, a Chinese partly state-owned video surveillance corporation, paid lobbyists at Sidley Austin and Mercury Public Affairs, among them a former senator, millions of dollars in failed attempt to reverse sanctions placed on the company in 2019 due to its links to the Uyghur genocide. Firms that the Department of Defense has labeled “Chinese military corporations,” such as Tencent and DJI, have also retained lobbyists in the hopes of escaping federal scrutiny over their ties to the People’s Liberation Army.
While Qatar and Israel primarily lobby in areas related to the United States’s foreign policy, the Japanese and South Koreans focus more on economics. Saudi Arabia plays both sides to a considerable degree.
Two of the largest Saudi entities cutting checks to influence American policy are the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, and NEOM, the linear megacity the Arab nation is attempting to build.
The millions of dollars the Saudis spend influencing American policymakers each month go a long way.
Saudi foreign agents have secured private sit-downs with members of Congress and their senior staff, op-eds placed directly in some of the United States’s most-read news outlets, and legislative victories such as sidelining the Ensuring Justice for Victims of Terrorism Act — legislation that would have strengthened the Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, a law that Saudi Arabia has historically opposed for allowing Americans to sue it over its role in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
While the Saudis and Japanese may lead the pack in FARA spending today, history shows that influence operations are in constant flux. From 2019 to 2022, China held the top spot, and Israel, a relatively small nation, spent the most in 2018, according to OpenSecrets data. The ascension of the second Trump administration has caused a lobbying scramble among foreign clients, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars flooding K-Street. As issues such as foreign aid rollbacks and import tariffs rock the world, it’s anyone’s guess what countries will start cutting big checks to pull strings in Washington.