In Washington, T-Mobile is one of the biggest spenders in the influence industry. Its parent, Deutsche Telekom, has turned the carrier into a lobbying powerhouse.
In 2024 alone, the company spent more than $10 million lobbying federal agencies and lawmakers, employing nearly 100 lobbyists. In the first half of 2025, T-Mobile has spent more than $5.3 million on influence campaigns, hiring a slew of powerful Washington firms. Federal disclosures show the company lobbying the Federal Communications Commission, Commerce Department, Treasury Department, and even the White House.
Here’s the catch: T-Mobile’s German parent promotes regulatory attacks on American tech companies in Europe while maintaining deep ties to Chinese state-backed firms.
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Deutsche Telekom is partially owned by the German government and has a long history of entanglements with Chinese telecom giants. It has partnered with China Unicom and China Mobile and still uses Huawei equipment in its German 5G even as that equipment is banned in America for national security reasons. Yet through T-Mobile, Deutsche Telekom enjoys privileged access to Washington.
It doesn’t stop there. Across the Atlantic, European telecoms, including Deutsche Telekom, are pushing aggressively for the EU to impose “network fees” on U.S. tech companies such as Google, Meta, and Amazon. These fees would require American firms to subsidize the infrastructure investments of European carriers, which would effectively tax U.S. innovation to benefit European incumbents who continue to use dangerous Chinese equipment. This is the exact type of non-tariff barrier the Trump administration has broadly opposed, and it reflects a concerning European approach of dealing punitively with American companies while giving Chinese companies a lighter touch.
Deutsche Telekom’s maneuvering is part of a broader pattern of foreign-controlled corporations using familiar American brands to influence U.S. policy while advancing their own national interests.
Take GE Appliances, which markets itself as “made for America” but has been owned since 2016 by Haier Group, a Chinese conglomerate based in Qingdao. Still, in 2024, its U.S. arm reported federal lobbying on manufacturing and trade. That means a Chinese state-influenced firm now speaks directly to Washington through a trusted American name, even as Beijing blocks U.S. appliance makers from its home market.
The same playbook appears in agriculture. Smithfield Foods, once a Virginia-based American icon, is majority-owned by China’s WH Group even after a 2025 initial public offering. Smithfield continues to lobby U.S. regulators on food safety and trade policy. In effect, a Chinese conglomerate shapes American agricultural rules while U.S. farmers face barriers to entering China’s market.
Together, these cases expose a growing vulnerability. Foreign adversary-owned or -linked corporations can leverage their U.S. subsidiaries to lobby policymakers, shape regulations, and even influence debates over national security while their home governments restrict American firms’ access and act against U.S. interests. Washington treats them as ordinary businesses, ignoring that their loyalties and incentives lie elsewhere.
This isn’t an argument against foreign investment or global commerce. It’s about transparency. When the German government owns a quarter of Deutsche Telekom, or when Chinese conglomerates direct the lobbying strategies of GE Appliances and Smithfield Foods, Congress should know precisely whose interests are being represented.
Reform should start with full disclosure. Companies with significant foreign ownership, especially those tied to authoritarian states, should be required to provide detailed reporting on control structures, Chinese partnerships, and technology dependencies under the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Boilerplate filings aren’t enough.
Second, lawmakers should consider limits on lobbying by firms controlled by foreign adversary governments or entities with national security implications. Texas and several other states have already taken steps to restrict land ownership and investment in critical infrastructure by Chinese companies. Similar caution should apply to influence campaigns in Washington.
Finally, the United States should insist on reciprocity. If Europe insists on network fees targeting U.S. tech firms, or if China continues to block American companies from its markets, Washington must be prepared to respond in kind. Open markets cannot be a one-way street.
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What links Deutsche Telekom, Haier, and WH Group is not just ownership, but strategy. Each uses a familiar U.S. brand to gain political access, lobby for favorable rules, and expand influence inside the world’s largest economy. Behind the logos and patriotic marketing lies foreign leverage that policymakers rarely confront.
American lawmakers should recognize this trend as a coordinated effort by foreign state-linked enterprises to shape U.S. policy from within. Pretending these companies are just “American competitors” misses the geopolitical reality. The U.S. should welcome fair competition, but only when the playing field and the loyalties are clear.
Michael Lucci is the founder and CEO of State Armor.