Brazilian government already expected surcharge related to forced labor

USA includes Brazil in list of 60 countries that fail to combat forced labor
Behind the scenes, members of the Brazilian government were already hoping that the United States would propose a surcharge on the import of items produced with forced labor.
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In the understanding of government interlocutors, the new rate will be added to the 25% announced on Monday (1st). Therefore, the surcharge would rise to 37.5%, close to the 40% imposed last year.
The defense against this new taxation must follow the same path as that adopted in relation to the 25%: dialogue with the United States until the investigation deadline.
In April, Brazil presented a defense that diplomacy classified as technical, highlighting the numbers of the fight against slave labor, such as the creation of the National Commission for the Eradication of Slave Labor, in 2003, and the creation of the "Dirty List", by which employers caught exploiting slave labor lose financing in public banks.
This Wednesday (3), the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira, will go to an event of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in Paris, where Ambassador Jamieson Greer, trade representative of the United States, will also be present.
Sources that accompany the minister say that there is still nothing scheduled between the two, but that Vieira should try to meet with Greer.
Aerial view of the White House, on May 2, 2026
REUTERS/Ken Cedeno

Source: G1