Foreigners spend billions to influence US politics. Here’s who's cutting the biggest checks

While Israeli and Qatari foreign spending has dominated the online discourse in Washington, D.C., Foreign Agents Registration Act data shows that those two nations have actually dialed back their spending in recent years, and have been surpassed by a host of countries less commonly associated with foreign influence efforts.

Israel and Qatar, which had once been the top foreign spenders, were outspent by Saudi Arabia, Japan, China, and South Korea in 2024, a Washington Examiner analysis of data compiled by OpenSecrets has found. Much like Israel and Qatar, these nations have business before the United States government that they seek to facilitate by dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into offices full of lobbyists in downtown D.C.