Forward of the November US presidential election, Donald Tang, an East-West dealmaker who beforehand didn’t strike it large in Hollywood and now serves as Shein’s government chairman, was making the rounds in Washington, dropping in to speak with China hawks skeptical of the corporate. “He was completely, chapter and verse, singing the MAGA hymn of ‘I like Trump. I like America,’” says Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow on the conservative Hudson Institute suppose tank who has been important of Shein and different Chinese language firms’ lobbying efforts and met with Tang in June.
By then, Shein—as soon as naive about how issues work in Washington—had realized to play the uniquely American sport of bare affect peddling. An eight-page Shein inside doc from June 2023 reviewed by WIRED titled “U.S. Public Affairs Marketing campaign Working Group Checklist,” outlined what the corporate’s huge group of public and authorities relations professionals and a few lobbyists was tasked with engaged on, together with focus areas like US-China relations and media outreach.
Greer was then working as a associate on the legislation agency King & Spalding, and his focus space was described as “authorized recommendation round worldwide commerce coverage.” Two different King & Spalding companions are additionally listed on the doc as offering steering to Shein on associated points, corresponding to crafting potential congressional testimony and dealing with investigations launched by lawmakers. King & Spalding continues to work with Shein, in keeping with an individual acquainted with the scenario. The legislation agency didn’t reply to requests for remark.
Throughout Trump’s first administration, Greer served as chief of workers to the commerce consultant, after which went on to hitch King & Spalding in 2020, in keeping with an announcement from the agency. It’s unclear when his work for Shein started or the way it was structured. A mandated financial disclosure that Greer filed in December 2024 earlier than he was confirmed doesn’t point out Shein or any of its associated firms.
It does observe, nonetheless, that Greer offered companies to 51 extra purchasers that remained confidential as a result of “disclosure of the consumer id and the very fact of illustration would reveal a consumer confidence or secret.” In a separate ethics agreement about potential conflicts of curiosity, Greer promised to “not take part personally and considerably in any explicit matter” involving events represented by King & Spalding for one 12 months after his resignation with out prior authorization.
A former Shein worker, who requested to not be recognized due to concern of retaliation, says that Greer beforehand suggested Leonard Lin, Shein’s Europe, the Center East and Africa President and international head of public affairs. One venture Greer labored on, the previous worker says, was aiding Lin with drafting a response to questions on Shein’s enterprise practices raised by a bipartisan group of senators.
The senators wrote in February 2023 to Xu Yangtian, Shein’s founder, looking for extra info on the corporate’s alleged potential ties to produce chains in China’s Xinjiang area, the place the Chinese language authorities has been accused of widespread human rights abuses towards a neighborhood Muslim minority inhabitants. The letter adopted a report by Bloomberg the earlier 12 months that discovered cotton in some Shein merchandise it commissioned for testing matched supplies that had been produced with cotton from Xinjiang.