Os Determinantes de Lobbying Estrangeiro na Política Comercial dos EUA

The United States is often portrayed as an economic powerhouse that emanates soft power, with American companies acting politically to shape other countries' policies. Nonetheless, the country is also a great hub of inward influence and trade policy offers a good snapshot of such external pressure. Looking to official disclosures from foreign commercial entities, countries vary greatly in the frequency of lobbying US trade policy. We apply negative binomial linear regression to investigate the determinants of variation in foreign influence in the US. The results support our hypothesis that economic intertwining between foreign countries and the US - by using mergers & acquisitions as a proxy - is an important driver of transnational political action not only with immediate effects but also with medium-term and structural impact. The findings have significant implications for policymakers and academia when debating the effect of foreign direct investment. While FDI influx has potential favorable economic consequences, it also leads to a path to external interests to influence domestic politics.