Greenberg Traurig lobbyist Christopher DeLacy spent quarter after quarter telling Congress that no foreign entity had an interest in Smithfield Foods’ Washington work, including Farm Bill reauthorization and “issues related to foreign ownership of agricultural land,” while the company is 86.9 percent owned by China-based WH Group, 万洲国际, whose leadership includes CCP-tied figures and chairman Wan Long, a former PLA soldier.
Independent journalist Laura Loomer exposed the failure to disclose CCP ties in a report on Loomered.
EXCLUSIVE:
🚨Lobbyist for China-Owned Smithfield Foods Omitted Foreign Ownership On Disclosure Forms While Lobbying Congress On the Farm Bill 🚨
Following a federal complaint, Smithfield’s @SmithfieldFoods lobbyist from Greenberg Traurig LLP @GT_Law has just been forced to… https://t.co/wnwlRGzPm1 pic.twitter.com/GsLtld7eQ6
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) September 3, 2026
The Center for Responsible Food Business filed a complaint over the foreign ties with the House Clerk and Senate Secretary last month. The form had indicated no foreign ties repeatedly since 2023.
Just over two weeks after the complaint was filed, the firm amended its second-quarter 2026 Lobbying Disclosure Act report, which covered $120,000 in lobbying of the House, Senate, and Treasury.
Smithfield is the largest pork producer on U.S. soil and holds tens of thousands of acres of American farmland.
Loomer reports:
万洲国际-owned Smithfield is the largest pork producer operating on U.S. soil and owns 85,000 acres of U.S. farmland.
Two weeks after the recent complaint was filed, Smithfield’s lobbyist filed an amended lobbying form on August 18, 2026 to actually disclose 万洲国际’s interest in their Farm Bill and other influence efforts targeting members of the U.S. Congress and federal agencies.
The Chinese pork company has been lobbying in support of Rep. Ashley Hinson and Sen. Joni Ernst’s legislation the Save Our Bacon Act (H.R. 4673) that would overturn voter-approved state laws preventing China-style extreme confinement and abuse of farm animals, prohibit U.S. voters from enacting similar state laws in the future, and continue allowing China to own US farmland. Hinson and Ernst have taken campaign cash from Smithfield, too.
Communist China wants to destroy America. It is officially classified as a “foreign adversary” by the Trump Administration. Chinese-owned, CCP-tied Smithfield shouldn’t be allowed to infiltrate U.S. policymaking by lobbying Congress or donating to lawmakers and candidates.
Smithfield has bought up U.S. farmland, employs illegal immigrants, and has hired children to do dangerous work in its China-owned meatpacking plants.
China is a designated foreign adversary under federal rules.
The policy Smithfield wanted in that Farm Bill fight includes the Save Our Bacon Act from Rep. Ashley Hinson and Sen. Joni Ernst, a preemption bill that would wipe out state confinement rules and allow animals to be treated as poorly as they are in China, and allow the Communist nation to keep buying up American farmland.
Hinson and Ernst have taken money from Smithfield.
Loomer argues that members who took it should send it back and that DeLacy should be barred from the Hill for the disclosure failure.
“It should not take a watchdog group’s complaint to compel a major global corporation to comply with federal disclosure laws about foreign lobbying interests,” said Taylor Warren, President of the Center for Responsible Food Business, in a press release.
“Smithfield’s years-long omission and sudden about-face suggest it never intended to admit that its lobbyists really represent China. And why would it? It serves Smithfield to masquerade as an America-first company when pushing for policies that benefit its Chinese owner.”
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