{"id":45100,"date":"2026-04-08T21:09:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=45100"},"modified":"2026-04-08T21:09:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T21:09:41","slug":"brazil-blacklists-chinese-ev-giant-byd-for-slave-labor-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=45100","title":{"rendered":"Brazil Blacklists Chinese EV Giant BYD for Slave Labor Conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"subheading\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Brazilian Ministry of Labor on Tuesday added Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD to a \u201cdirty list\u201d of employers who inflict slave labor conditions on their workers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In December 2024, Brazilian officials <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/national-security\/2024\/12\/24\/brazil-halts-byd-site-construction-after-chinese-workers-found-slavery-like-conditions\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">halted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the construction of a BYD factory in the city of Camacari after an investigation found that 163 Chinese nationals imported to work on the project were forced to live and work in \u201cprecarious\u201d and \u201cdegrading\u201d conditions, including unsafe working environments and unsanitary living quarters.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"\/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Furthermore, Brazil\u2019s public prosecutor determined that BYD\u2019s workers were treated as \u201cforced labor,\u201d with their passports confiscated and up to 70 percent of their pay withheld. The employees were threatened with heavy penalties if they tried to quit their jobs, including forfeiture of the wages withheld by their employer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>WATCH\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Sen. Cotton: China Got Wealthy Cheating American Workers, but Trump is Fighting Back:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"rumble\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/rumble.com\/embed\/v75j1f2\/?pub=he97b\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B2\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a9d\"\/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Brazilian workers at the BYD plant <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/diplomacy\/article\/3349311\/brazil-blacklists-byd-slave-labour-conditions-its-biggest-plant-outside-china\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">told<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> investigators their unfortunate Chinese counterparts were forced to work seven days a week, including on public holidays. The Chinese workers were only given time off when their supervisors knew government inspectors would be visiting the site.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BYD, which has <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/economy\/2024\/01\/05\/china-backed-automaker-becomes-worlds-biggest-seller-of-electric-cars\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">become<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the world\u2019s largest EV manufacturer with heavy backing from the Chinese Communist Party, pushed the blame for the Camacari debacle onto a contractor called the Jinjiang Group that was hired to provide labor for the construction project. The Jinjiang Group denied any wrongdoing.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In May 2025, the Public Labor Prosecutor\u2019s office of Brazil (known in Portuguese as the Ministerio Publico do Trabalho, or MPT) <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/autos.yahoo.com\/brazilian-prosecutors-sue-byd-over-050000910.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">filed suit<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> against BYD, the Jinjiang Group, and another contractor called Tecmonta for human trafficking and slavery. The MPT sought about $50 million in damages from the Chinese companies.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Ministry of Labor said on Tuesday that upon completion of \u201cadministrative processes\u201d related to the Camacari investigation, BYD\u2019s Brazilian branch has been added to the ministry\u2019s Cadastro de Empregadores list. The name literally translates to \u201cemployer registration,\u201d but it is more commonly known as the \u201cdirty list\u201d \u2013 a blacklist of employers who have been <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/makrosystem.com.br\/blog\/cadastro-de-empregadores-nova-instrucao-normativa-e-publicada\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">restricted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from hiring in Brazil because they \u201csubject people to conditions analogous to slavery.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"a9d-pre\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The blacklisting will prevent BYD from applying for some types of financing from Brazilian banks, and it will be seen as a major stain on the Chinese company\u2019s reputation with investors, but it does not actually force BYD to suspend operations in Brazil.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a9d adSo\"\/>\n<p><strong>WATCH\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Sen. Cotton: U.S. Must Recognize China is \u201cEvil Empire\u201d Scheming to \u201cDominate the World\u201d:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"rumble\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/rumble.com\/embed\/v75hc52\/?pub=he97b\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">CNBC <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2026\/04\/07\/brazil-puts-chinas-byd-on-list-of-shame-for-workers-past-slavery-like-conditions.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">reported<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Tuesday that BYD seemed taken aback by the blacklisting, because it had signed a pledge with the Brazilian government to change its labor practices and stop withholding compensation from its workers. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva made a point of attending the inaugural ceremony for the controversial BYD plant in October to demonstrate his support for China.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BYD evidently failed to get the Ministry of Labor fully on board with its pledge of contrition, so the investigation of the Camacari plant kept going. Now that investigators have placed BYD on the dirty list, it must remain there for at least two years, unless a court orders its early removal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nikkei Asia <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/asia.nikkei.com\/business\/automobiles\/electric-vehicles\/byd-added-to-brazil-s-labor-dirty-list-after-construction-site-scandal\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">noted<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> the blacklisting comes at a precarious moment for BYD, which has enjoyed strong sales growth in Brazil \u2014 100,000 cars sold in 2025, versus 76,000 the previous year \u2014 but is losing market share in China.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BYD\u2019s last earnings report showed a 19-percent decline in annual net revenue, its first loss since 2021, coupled with the slowest overall growth in six years. The company poured a billion dollars into its \u201cfactory of the future\u201d in Brazil, banking on continued overseas sales growth to make up for shortfalls in China.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Chinese company might not be able to count on much help from Lula, who is locked in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2026\/03\/11\/brazil-bolsonaro-son-flavio-narrows-lulas-lead-in-presidential-race\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tight re-election race<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> against Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro, the son of Lula\u2019s narrowly defeated 2022 opponent Jair Bolsonaro. Lula is a socialist who leans heavily on his background as a humble worker, so bending the rules to help a Chinese mega-corporation that has been blacklisted for forced labor would be politically difficult.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/latin-america\/2026\/04\/08\/brazil-blacklists-chinese-ev-giant-byd-for-slave-labor-conditions-at-factory\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Brazilian Ministry of Labor on Tuesday added Chinese electric vehicle (EV) giant BYD to a \u201cdirty list\u201d of employers who inflict slave labor conditions on&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45101,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}