As the United States continues negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), tobacco giant Philip Morris International Management SA has turned to former Rep. Bill Paxon, R-N.Y., and other Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld lobbyists for help.

​PMI Global Services Inc., a subsidiary of the Marlboro cigarette maker, enlisted the Akin Gump team in Washington, D.C., to assist it with advocacy work concerning the “[t]reatment of tobacco in Trans-Pacific Partnership and Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership negotiations; combatting illicit trade in tobacco,” according to lobbying registration paperwork filed with Congress on Friday.

In addition to Paxon, who is an Akin Gump senior adviser, firm partner James Tucker Jr. and policy adviser Zachary Paulsen are handling the account. Paulsen previously lobbied for Japan as it sought to enter into the TPP.

Source: National Law Journal

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