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) intro-
duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a pe-
riod to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for con-
sideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the com-
mittee concerned 
A BILL 
To prohibit importation of certain products of Brazil, to 
prohibit certain assistance to Brazil, and to prohibit ne-
gotiations to enter into a free trade agreement with 
Brazil. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Act for the Amazon 
Act’’. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:57 Sep 11, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4263.IH
H4263
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Two-thirds of the Amazon rainforest is lo-
cated in Brazil’s borders. 
(2) The Amazon rainforest is commonly re-
ferred to as the ‘‘lungs of the Earth’’. 
(3) The Amazon rainforest contains upwards of 
100 billion metric tons of sequestered carbon, help-
ing to stabilize the Earth’s climate. 
(4) The Amazon rainforest is home to 10 per-
cent of the Earth’s biodiversity. 
(5) More forest has been cleared in Brazil in 
the summer 2019 alone than in the last three years 
combined. 
(6) Brazilian satellites indicate that about three 
football fields worth of trees in the Amazon 
rainforest located in Brazil were felled every minute 
in July 2019. 
(7) As of August 26, 2019, there were more 
than 41,000 fires burning in the Amazon rainforest. 
(8) The National Institute for Space Research 
(INPE) reports this to be a 78-percent increase 
from fires during the same period in 2018. 
(9) These fires have released the equivalent of 
228 megatons of carbon so far this year. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:57 Sep 11, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4263.IH
H4263
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
(10) Natural fires in the Amazon rainforest are 
rare, and the majority of fires are human-caused to 
deforest land for agriculture and mining. 
(11) Cattle ranching leads to approximately 80 
percent of deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. 
(12) Soy cultivation has led to the destruction 
of 40,000 square miles of native forests in Brazil 
since 2008. 
(13) Deforestation is taking place illegally in 
some of the more than 305 indigenous territories in 
Brazil. 
(14) Brazilian President Bolsonaro has imple-
mented policies that violate the collective and indi-
vidual rights of indigenous peoples. 
(15) Brazil’s National Indigenous Movement 
has called for an international boycott of commod-
ities that are in conflict with indigenous territories. 
(16) President Bolsonaro has promised to scale 
back enforcement of environmental laws. 
(17) President Bolsonaro blames nongovern-
mental organizations for the fires without evidence. 
(18) President Bolsonaro has rejected deforest-
ation data from his own government agency, the 
INPE, as false and later fired the INPE director for 
rebutting his criticisms. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:57 Sep 11, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4263.IH
H4263
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
(19) Under President Bolsonaro’s administra-
tion, deforestation has spiked by more than 50 per-
cent. 
(20) President Bolsonaro’s chief of staff said 
that G7 aid ‘‘would be put to better use reforesting 
Europe’’. 
(21) Brazil’s Environment Minister has inhib-
ited the environmental enforcement agencies from 
investigating environmental crimes. 
(22) Brazil’s Environment Minister is a con-
victed environmental criminal. 
(23) Brazilian government enforcement actions, 
including fines and the confiscation and destruction 
of illegal equipment, has significantly decreased 
under the Bolsonaro administration. 
(24) The continued lack of enforcement actions 
against deforestation tactics and unwillingness to ag-
gressively fight the fires in the Amazon rainforest by 
the Government of Brazil poses a direct threat to 
United States interests and national security. 
(25) The destruction of the Amazon rainforest 
poses serious threats to our ecosystem, potentially 
significantly affecting agricultural production, in-
creasing extreme weather events, and more. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:57 Sep 11, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4263.IH
H4263
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
(26) The United States is Brazil’s third largest 
export market. 
(27) Brazilian soy and cattle exports accounted 
for more than $31 billion and $5 billion, respec-
tively, in 2017, leading the world in exports of both 
commodities. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON IMPORTATION OF PRODUCTS OF 
BRAZIL. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date of the en-
actment of this Act, the President shall exercise all powers 
granted by the International Emergency Economic Powers 
Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (except that the require-
ments of section 202 of such Act (50 U.S.C. 1701) shall 
not apply) to the extent necessary to prohibit the importa-
tion of any products described in subsection (b) that are 
products of Brazil. 
(b) PRODUCTS DESCRIBED.—The products described 
in this subsection are the following: 
(1) Beef products classified under heading 0201 
of the HTS. 
(2) Soy products classified under— 
(A) heading 1201, 1507, or 2304 of the 
HTS; or 
(B) subheading 1208.10.00, 1517.90.10, 
1517.90.90, or 2008.99.6100 of the HTS. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:57 Sep 11, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4263.IH
H4263
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
(3) Leather and hide products classified under 
heading 4104 of the HTS. 
(4) Timber products classified under heading 
4403 of the HTS. 
(5) Sugar products classified under heading 
1701 of the HTS. 
(6) Pulp and paper products classified under 
chapter 47 or 48 of the HTS. 
(7) Tobacco products classified under chapter 
24 of the HTS. 
(8) Corn products classified under— 
(A) heading 1005 of the HTS; or 
(B) subheading 0709.99.45, 0710.40.00, 
0712.90.8, 
1004.23.00, 
1102.20.00, 
1103.13.00, 
1108.12.00, 
1515.21.00, 
1901.90.91, 
1905.90.90, 
2004.90.85, 
2005.80.00, 
2302.10.00, 
2303.10.00, 
2303.10.00, 
2306.90.01, 
3505.10.00, 
or 
9902.01.01 of the HTS. 
(9) Crude petroleum, natural gas, and petro-
leum refinery products classified under heading 
2707, 2709, 2710, 2711, or 2712 of the HTS. 
(c) HTS DEFINED.—In this section, the term 
‘‘HTS’’ means the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the 
United States. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:57 Sep 11, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4263.IH
H4263
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON ASSISTANCE TO BRAZIL. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date of the en-
actment of this Act, the President may not provide assist-
ance described in subsection (b) to Brazil. 
(b) ASSISTANCE DESCRIBED.—The assistance de-
scribed in this subsection is the following: 
(1) Military assistance, including— 
(A) military-to-military cooperation and ex-
ercises; 
(B) support for military innovation and 
modernization, including the transfer of surplus 
military equipment or technology; and 
(C) military education and exchanges. 
(2) Security assistance. 
SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON NEGOTIATIONS TO ENTER INTO A 
FREE TRADE AGREEMENT WITH BRAZIL. 
(a) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-
gress that the Government of Brazil’s failure to aggres-
sively fight the fires in the Amazon rainforest and defor-
estation tactics more generally provide yet another jus-
tification as to why the United States should not carry 
out negotiations to enter into a free trade agreement with 
Brazil. 
(b) PROHIBITION.—The Office of the United States 
Trade Representative and any other Federal department 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:57 Sep 11, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H4263.IH
H4263
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS
or agency may not carry out negotiations to enter into 
a free trade agreement with Brazil. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
01:57 Sep 11, 2019
Jkt 089200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H4263.IH
H4263
pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS