Sen. Marco Rubio sent a letter to the Biden administration in April asking for an investigation into Shein, the fast-fashion company that, in the senator’s view, is doing gangbusters business selling clothes made in China in no small part by skirting tariffs and anti-forced labor laws.
Like several other China hawks, Rubio has been publicly lambasting Shein for months — but this time, the company appeared to heed his concerns in a very Washington way: Shein hired Rubio’s former chief of staff as a lobbyist just six days after the letter was sent.
It was the first in a series of high-power hires for the $64 billion company, which is trying to go public on the American stock exchange amid scrutiny from lawmakers like Rubio. In the last month, Shein has hired 10 new lobbyists, including top Trump ally Brian Ballard, significant muscle on top of an already-powerful political team it began building in 2022.