634 Chapter 17 | Foreign PolicyLobbying efforts can even involve foreign governments. In these cases, lobbying
efforts center on economic and military aid, trade deals, and more general efforts to
improve a country’s image among members of Congress and the bureaucracy. In the
case of the Iran deal, Israel’s ambassador to the United States called many members
of Congress to persuade them to oppose the deal when it was negotiated and, later, to
support President Trump’s withdrawal.
Sometimes interest group lobbying pits business interests against other concerns
such as national security. For example, during both the Obama and Trump
presidencies, the Chinese government and two of its major telecommunications
technology firms, Huawei and ZTE, have complained that the U.S. government has
prevented these firms from expanding into U.S. markets. ZTE has also been heavily
fined by the United States for violating sanctions against sales to firms in Iran. U.S.
technology firms argue that Huawei and ZTE should be kept out of the United States
because their equipment might be used for spying or cyberattacks. Although these
charges might be true (the evidence is classified), it is also the case that U.S. technology
firms have lost market share to Chinese firms in recent years. Raising national security
concerns may just be a way to force the federal government to keep Huawei and ZTE out
of the lucrative American market.
Finally, some groups focus on publicizing international events in the hope of
prompting citizens to demand government action. For example, in 2016 and 2017
religious groups met with elected officials and worked to gain press coverage of the
plight of refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria. At the same time, major American
media outlets published photos of squalid refugee camps and refugee children who
drowned after the boat they were traveling on sank in the Mediterranean.
As mentioned in Chapter 10, the impact of these lobbying efforts is hard to
determine. At the same time that groups were lobbying in favor of Syrian refugees,
the Obama administration was granting asylum to thousands of refugees each year.
However, it is likely that the individuals making these asylum decisions (including,
at the top, President Obama) were sympathetic to the refugees and would have
admitted them in any case. And in fact, despite the ongoing problems in Syria and other
countries, overall refugee admissions to the United States have plunged to near zero
under President Trump, highlighting the limits of lobbying efforts.The Media Television, radio, print media, and the Internet all inform the public about
events in America and elsewhere. As discussed in Chapter 7, although media coverage
is a prime source of information about domestic and foreign policy for most Americans,
one cannot say that evaluations of America’s foreign policy are driven solely by the
news media’s decisions about what to cover and how to report it. The press informs
individuals about events and may to some extent frame the criteria people use to judge
America’s foreign policy and consider alternatives, but as we have seen elsewhere, most
of the time, media attention to a foreign policy question or problem has a limited impact
on opinions and policy choices.Public Opinion Foreign policy decisions are also sensitive to public opinion. As with
many domestic issues, elected officials are well aware of their constituents’ views and
are reluctant to support policies that conflict with opinions held by a majority of their
constituents. On issues such as lowering tariffs with other countries, congressional
voting is highly correlated with constituents’ support of or opposition to these measures.
However, public opinion is not a decisive influence on foreign policy. For example, in
the case of Syrian refugees, American public opinion has consistently been opposed
to allowing them to live in the United States. (This finding is not exceptional—in many
other cases, Americans have opposed admission of refugees from political crises.^42 )134
foreign governments lobbied the
legislative or executive branch of the
federal government in 2017.
Source: Department of JusticeDID YOU KNOW?
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