I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4263 

To prohibit importation of certain products of Brazil, to prohibit certain 

assistance to Brazil, and to prohibit negotiations to enter into a free 

trade agreement with Brazil. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019 

Mr. DEFAZIO (for himself, Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. 

NORTON, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. HILL of California, Ms. PINGREE, Mr. 

COHEN, Mr. HASTINGS, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. THOMPSON of California, 

Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. HUFFMAN, and Mr. LOWENTHAL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 

Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To prohibit importation of certain products of Brazil, to 

prohibit certain assistance to Brazil, and to prohibit negotiations to enter into a free trade agreement with 

Brazil. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Act for the Amazon 

5 Act’’. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 4263 IH

1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest is lo4 cated in Brazil’s borders. 

5 (2) The Amazon rainforest is commonly re6 ferred to as the ‘‘lungs of the Earth’’. 

7 (3) The Amazon rainforest contains upwards of 

8 100 billion metric tons of sequestered carbon, help9 ing to stabilize the Earth’s climate. 

10 (4) The Amazon rainforest is home to 10 per11 cent of the Earth’s biodiversity. 

12 (5) More forest has been cleared in Brazil in 

13 the summer 2019 alone than in the last three years 

14 combined. 

15 (6) Brazilian satellites indicate that about three 

16 football fields worth of trees in the Amazon 

17 rainforest located in Brazil were felled every minute 

18 in July 2019. 

19 (7) As of August 26, 2019, there were more 

20 than 41,000 fires burning in the Amazon rainforest. 

21 (8) The National Institute for Space Research 

22 (INPE) reports this to be a 78-percent increase 

23 from fires during the same period in 2018. 

24 (9) These fires have released the equivalent of 

25 228 megatons of carbon so far this year. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 4263 IH

1 (10) Natural fires in the Amazon rainforest are 

2 rare, and the majority of fires are human-caused to 

3 deforest land for agriculture and mining. 

4 (11) Cattle ranching leads to approximately 80 

5 percent of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. 

6 (12) Soy cultivation has led to the destruction 

7 of 40,000 square miles of native forests in Brazil 

8 since 2008. 

9 (13) Deforestation is taking place illegally in 

10 some of the more than 305 indigenous territories in 

11 Brazil. 

12 (14) Brazilian President Bolsonaro has imple13 mented policies that violate the collective and indi14 vidual rights of indigenous peoples. 

15 (15) Brazil’s National Indigenous Movement 

16 has called for an international boycott of commod17 ities that are in conflict with indigenous territories. 

18 (16) President Bolsonaro has promised to scale 

19 back enforcement of environmental laws. 

20 (17) President Bolsonaro blames nongovern21 mental organizations for the fires without evidence. 

22 (18) President Bolsonaro has rejected deforest23 ation data from his own government agency, the 

24 INPE, as false and later fired the INPE director for 

25 rebutting his criticisms. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 4263 IH

1 (19) Under President Bolsonaro’s administra2 tion, deforestation has spiked by more than 50 per3 cent. 

4 (20) President Bolsonaro’s chief of staff said 

5 that G7 aid ‘‘would be put to better use reforesting 

6 Europe’’. 

7 (21) Brazil’s Environment Minister has inhib8 ited the environmental enforcement agencies from 

9 investigating environmental crimes. 

10 (22) Brazil’s Environment Minister is a con11 victed environmental criminal. 

12 (23) Brazilian government enforcement actions, 

13 including fines and the confiscation and destruction 

14 of illegal equipment, has significantly decreased 

15 under the Bolsonaro administration. 

16 (24) The continued lack of enforcement actions 

17 against deforestation tactics and unwillingness to ag18 gressively fight the fires in the Amazon rainforest by 

19 the Government of Brazil poses a direct threat to 

20 United States interests and national security. 

21 (25) The destruction of the Amazon rainforest 

22 poses serious threats to our ecosystem, potentially 

23 significantly affecting agricultural production, in24 creasing extreme weather events, and more. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 4263 IH

1 (26) The United States is Brazil’s third largest 

2 export market. 

3 (27) Brazilian soy and cattle exports accounted 

4 for more than $31 billion and $5 billion, respec5 tively, in 2017, leading the world in exports of both 

6 commodities. 

7 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON IMPORTATION OF PRODUCTS OF 

8 BRAZIL. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date of the en10 actment of this Act, the President shall exercise all powers 

11 granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers 

12 Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (except that the require13 ments of section 202 of such Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) shall 

14 not apply) to the extent necessary to prohibit the importa15 tion of any products described in subsection (b) that are 

16 products of Brazil. 

17 (b) PRODUCTS DESCRIBED.—The products described 

18 in this subsection are the following: 

19 (1) Beef products classified under heading 0201 

20 of the HTS. 

21 (2) Soy products classified under— 

22 (A) heading 1201, 1507, or 2304 of the 

23 HTS; or 

24 (B) subheading 1208.10.00, 1517.90.10, 

25 1517.90.90, or 2008.99.6100 of the HTS. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 4263 IH

1 (3) Leather and hide products classified under 

2 heading 4104 of the HTS. 

3 (4) Timber products classified under heading 

4 4403 of the HTS. 

5 (5) Sugar products classified under heading 

6 1701 of the HTS. 

7 (6) Pulp and paper products classified under 

8 chapter 47 or 48 of the HTS. 

9 (7) Tobacco products classified under chapter 

10 24 of the HTS. 

11 (8) Corn products classified under— 

12 (A) heading 1005 of the HTS; or 

13 (B) subheading 0709.99.45, 0710.40.00, 

14 0712.90.8, 1004.23.00, 1102.20.00, 

15 1103.13.00, 1108.12.00, 1515.21.00, 

16 1901.90.91, 1905.90.90, 2004.90.85, 

17 2005.80.00, 2302.10.00, 2303.10.00, 

18 2303.10.00, 2306.90.01, 3505.10.00, or 

19 9902.01.01 of the HTS. 

20 (9) Crude petroleum, natural gas, and petro21 leum refinery products classified under heading 

22 2707, 2709, 2710, 2711, or 2712 of the HTS. 

23 (c) HTS DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

24 ‘‘HTS’’ means the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 

25 United States. 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 4263 IH

1 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE TO BRAZIL. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date of the en3 actment of this Act, the President may not provide assist4 ance described in subsection (b) to Brazil. 

5 (b) ASSISTANCE DESCRIBED.—The assistance de6 scribed in this subsection is the following: 

7 (1) Military assistance, including— 

8 (A) military-to-military cooperation and ex9 ercises; 

10 (B) support for military innovation and 

11 modernization, including the transfer of surplus 

12 military equipment or technology; and 

13 (C) military education and exchanges. 

14 (2) Security assistance. 

15 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON NEGOTIATIONS TO ENTER INTO A 

16 FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH BRAZIL. 

17 (a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con18 gress that the Government of Brazil’s failure to aggres19 sively fight the fires in the Amazon rainforest and defor20 estation tactics more generally provide yet another jus21 tification as to why the United States should not carry 

22 out negotiations to enter into a free trade agreement with 

23 Brazil. 

24 (b) PROHIBITION.—The Office of the United States 

25 Trade Representative and any other Federal department 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 4263 IH

1 or agency may not carry out negotiations to enter into 

2 a free trade agreement with Brazil. 

Æ 


pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS