Days before punitive 50 percent US tariffs were to take effect on Indian exports, Delhi hired a second lobbying firm with close ties to the Trump administration to help mitigate his anger.

The contract was signed 18 August, but the lobbyist appears to have achieved little with only a day left before the tariffs kick in.

India, which is currently subject to a 25 percent reciprocal tariff, has until Wednesday to try to convince the Trump administration not to impose an additional 25 percent punitive tariff for continuing to buy Russian oil during the invasion of Ukraine. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said he anticipates the additional tariff will go into effect as scheduled.

“I see that taking place,” Navarro said during a gaggle. “India doesn’t appear to want to recognize its role in the bloodshed in Ukraine. It simply doesn’t.”

India has hired former Senator David Vitter of Mercury Public Affairs to help with “federal government relations” and other services, according to documents filed with the Justice Department.

The contract between the embassy and Mercury runs from mid-August to mid-November and will net the firm $75,000 a month for a total of $225,000. That’s a paltry sum compared to the $1.8 million India already committed to pay former Trump adviser Jason Miller’s SHW Partners LLC.

India isn’t the first foreign country to hire Mercury since Trump re-entered the White House. The president’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, ran the firm’s Florida and Washington offices until she left for Trump’s 2024 campaign, and the embassies of Denmark, Ecuador, Armenia and South Korea likely took that relationship into consideration when deciding to hire the lobby shop.