Opinion

October 23, 2026 — 5:00am

The world according to Airwallex co-founder Jack Zhang would have it that concerns aired by a Republican-controlled congressional committee in the US over the company’s links to China are a conspiratorial political campaign seeded by competitors.

So it’s little wonder the Melbourne-founded fintech start-up has brought in big-name reinforcements to suck the oxygen out of the China talk, led by Trump’s former US attorney-general Bill Barr .

Airwallex co-founder and chief executive Jack Zhang. Bloomberg

Fresh lobbying disclosures released this week show Barr’s firm was retained by Airwallex to lobby members of the House of Representatives, the Department of Justice, and the Treasury Department, on the heels of the mounting Republican backlash.

Barr, who served as attorney-general under Trump for about two years from early 2019, has worked as an adviser to Airwallex since at least September, when he signed a letter addressed to the committee’s chairman, Republican John…