Loomered.com is first to report that following a federal complaint, Smithfield Foods’ U.S. lobbyist Greenberg Traurig LLP violated federal lobbying rules and has just been forced to disclose that their lobbying of U.S. Congress and the U.S Treasury benefits the company’s Chinese owner, 万洲国际 (WH Group).
A Big Ag watchdog’s complaint filed with the House and Senate in early August detailed how Smithfield’s firm violated federal lobbying rules in July when it checked “None” on a required disclosure form asking whether any foreign entity had an interest in its $120,000 worth of 2026 second-quarter lobbying for China-owned Smithfield on “animal welfare standards; Farm Bill reauthorization; issues related to foreign ownership of agricultural land.”
This wasn’t a one-off omission. In every quarterly lobbying report since 2023, Smithfield’s lobbyist failed to report 万洲国际’s ownership and the company’s ties to China.
But, records show Smithfield is 86.9% owned by China’s CCP-tied 万洲国际, whose leadership is stacked with members of the CCP. Wan Long, the company’s chairman, was a soldier in the People’s Liberation Army. He is a Chinese billionaire and is a member of the Chinese Communist Party.
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.
Smithfield’s longtime lobbyist Christopher DeLacy, whose bio on the Greenberg Traurig website says he is the Co-Chair of their Federal Government Law & Policy Practice, should be prohibited from lobbying Congress for this disclosure failure. Ashley Hinson, Joni Ernst and every other Republican and Democrat lawmaker should give back all campaign donations from Smithfield (like GOP Rep. Dan Newhouse did). Any lawmakers who took campaign contributions from this Chinese company should immediately return them, as there is no doubt Smithfield will be happy to take the money back in dollar or yuan form.
