Beleaguered Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has signed $3.5 million in public relations contracts over the past two weeks even as it has put the brakes on its massive lobbying campaign amid political flux in Washington.
The company’s US subsidiary in Plano, Texas, Huawei Technologies USA, signed a $1.45 million contract with Ruder Finn at the end of October for “strategic counsel, media relations, analyst relations, data insights, content strategy and policy communications,” according to a new lobbying filing. The year-long contract was effective Nov. 1 and automatically renews for one year unless terminated by one of the parties.
Ruder Finn is replacing Burson Cohn & Wolfe (BCW) company Pivot Integrated Communications, which had a smaller $939,000 contract with Huawei that was up for renewal in September, according to a Huawei spokesperson. Pivot did not respond to a request for comment.
Huawei’s lobbying spending collapsed in 2020, dropping from more than $6 million in 2019 to less than $1 million in the first three quarters of 2020.
The filing comes just days after Huawei Technologies USA extended its contract with technology communications company Racepoint Global for $1.94 million through October 2021. The Boston-based firm has represented Huawei since October 2018 and disclosed almost $3.74 million in payments since then.
“As part of our annual agency review process, Huawei Technologies USA has renewed its contract with Racepoint Global (RPG) and added Ruder Finn to provide public relations counsel for 12 months beginning in November 2020,” Huawei Technologies USA said in a statement.
Firm | Contract amount | Type of work | Dates | Registered agents |
Ruder Finn | $1.45 million | Public relations | Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021 (automatically renews annually) | CEO Kathy Bloomgarden Executive Vice President Maryam Ayromlou Executive Vice President Robin Kim Senior Vice President Guen Yi Account supervisor Jenny Barrett Account supervisor Jessica Savarese Senior account executive Rebecca Baumgaertner Assistant account executive Noah Dickter Assistant account executive Peyton Francum |
Racepoint Global | $1.94 million | Public relations | Nov. 1, 2020 – Oct. 31, 2021 | |
Pivot Integrated Communications (BCW) | $939,000 | Public relations | Oct. 2019 – Sept. 2020 | CEO James Cook Executive Vice President Adam Goodman Executive Vice President Jonathan Hendl Executive Vice President Sharron Silvers Senior Vice President Dean Mastrojohn Vice President Eric Minuskin Account executive Ariella Davmer Account executive Kelly Delgado Account executive Gabrielle Marino Matthew Culbertson |
The PR focus comes even as Huawei has largely eased off its Washington lobbying in 2020 amid uncertainty over the country’s future political leadership.
As the Donald Trump administration pressed US allies to ban Huawei technology from their 5G networks and effectively banned the company from the US market in early 2019, the company went on a lobbying binge, hiring no fewer than five firms last year. Its high-priced lobbyists included Michael Esposito of Federal Advocates, whom the Washington Post described as a fabulist trading on fictitious ties to the Trump administration and other top Republicans.
But a review of federal disclosure records by Foreign Lobby Report shows that Huawei’s lobbying spending collapsed in 2020, dropping from more than $6 million in 2019 to less than $1 million in the first three quarters of 2020. That includes Huawei Technologies USA’s spending on in-house lobbying, which went from almost $3 million in 2019 to $450,000 so far this year.
Firm | 2019 fees/spending | Q1 – Q3 2020 fees/spending | Registration date | Registered lobbyists (Q3 2020) | Client |
Huawei Technologies USA | $2.985 million | $450,000 | April 2012 | Don Morrissey | In-house lobbying |
Federal Advocates | $2.55 million | – | Aug. 2019 | No filing since Q4 2019 | Huawei Technologies USA |
Squire Patton Boggs | $230,000 | $380,000 | August 2019 | Jack Deschauer Edward Newberry Jeff Turner | Huawei Technologies USA |
Steptoe & Johnson | $210,000 | $160,000 | April 2019 | Richard Cunningham Judy Wang | Huawei Technologies Co. (Shenzhen) |
Jones Day | $60,000 | – | April 2019 | No activity since Q4 2019 | Huawei Technologies Co. (Shenzhen) |
Sidley Austin | – | – | August 2019 | Thomas Green Mark Hopson | Huawei Technologies Co. (Shenzhen) |
Meanwhile the company has filed multiple lawsuits, notably against a congressional law and federal regulations that restrict its ability to contract with the federal government.
“Huawei is under significant pressure to improve its global standing, due in large part to the Trump administration’s success in convincing several European countries to ban the company from their 5G networks,” said Craig Singleton, an adjunct fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD).
“Beyond its existing lobbying efforts, and taking a page from TikTok‘s recent public messaging campaign, Huawei understands that the company will almost certainly remain under siege unless it can improve its image amongst policymakers and the general public alike,” Singleton said. “As a result of U.S. sanctions, Huawei’s earnings have taken a beating over the last year. If the company is going to survive, it needs to change the narrative. A public relations campaign is just one part of a much broader strategy which also relies heavily on lobbying and lawsuits.”
