Amazon tapped a lobbying firm run by an ally of President Donald Trump to push for government action against vendors selling counterfeit goods – an issue that has come under greater scrutiny during the U.S. trade battle with China.

From July 2018 until March 2019, Amazon has been paying Ballard Partners up to $70,000 each quarter for, in part, lobbying on issues related to "trade and tariff policy," according to three disclosure reports. However, people familiar with the matter said that the disclosure reports only tell part of the story.

Brian Ballard, a leading fundraiser in Florida for Trump during the 2016 presidential election, has been lobbying members of Trump's administration and Congress on Amazon's behalf to fight back against third party vendors who are selling fake products to their customers.

They're trying to "stop third party actors from shipping fake Nikes to the United States under the guise that they're real products," said a person familiar with their efforts. Amazon is increasingly concerned about fake and pirated products on its marketplace. In a February warning to investors, the company used the word "counterfeit" for the first time.

In April, a month after the lobbying firm's last recorded effort on "trade and tariff" policies for Amazon, Trump signed a memorandum that aimed to curb the sale of counterfeit items online.

"This is a shot across the bow to those companies. If you don't clean it up, then the government will," Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro, who is known as a China hawk, told reporters at the time. The memorandum calls on the Departments of Homeland Security, Commerce and Justice to issue a report recommending potential regulatory measures to combat the sale and eventual shipping of these fake goods.