Recent actions by the government of Brazil constitute an “unusual and extraordinary threat to national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States,” declared the White House. In response, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order implementing an additional 40 percent tariff on Brazil, bringing the total tariff amount to 50 percent.
The Order finds that the government of Brazil’s politically motivated persecution, intimidation, harassment, censorship, and prosecution of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and thousands of his supporters constitute serious human rights abuses that have undermined the rule of law in Brazil.
Recently, members of the Brazilian government have taken unprecedented actions to coerce U.S. companies to censor political speech, deplatform users, turn over sensitive U.S. user data, or change their content moderation policies on pain of extraordinary fines, criminal prosecution, asset freezes, or complete exclusion from the Brazilian market.
This undermines not only the viability of U.S. companies’ business operations in Brazil but also the policy of the United States in promoting free and fair elections and safeguarding fundamental human rights at home and abroad, noted the White House.
Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes has abused his judicial authority to threaten, target, and intimidate thousands of his political opponents, shield corrupt allies, and suppress dissent, often in coordination with other Brazilian officials to the detriment of U.S. companies operating in Brazil.
Justice de Moraes has unilaterally issued hundreds of orders to secretly censor his political critics. When U.S. companies have refused to comply with these orders, he imposed fines, ordered the companies’ exclusion from Brazil’s social media market, threatened their executives with criminal prosecution, and, in one case, froze the assets of a U.S. company in Brazil in an effort to coerce compliance.
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Indeed, Justice de Moraes is currently overseeing his government’s criminal prosecution of Paulo Figueiredo, a U.S. resident, for speech he made on U.S. soil, and has supported criminal investigations into other U.S. persons after they exposed his gross violations of human rights and corruption.
On July 18, President Trump directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revoke visas belonging to Justice de Moraes, his allies on the Court, and their immediate family members for their role in enabling Justice de Moraes’ human rights violations against Brazilians and free speech violations against Americans.
Preserving and protecting the free speech rights of all Americans and defending American companies from coerced censorship will remain at the forefront of President Trump’s America First foreign policy strategy. [VOA/VS]
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