U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09), a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, today blasted reports that the United States would soon announce a new trade agreement with the Brazilian government.

"The Bolsonaro regime is one of the must anti-worker, anti-environment, and outright repugnant governments in the world,” said Rep. Pascrell, one of Congress’s foremost critics of so-called free trade agreements. “Consummating any trade deal only rewards and encourages Brazil to continue its pattern of hostility to labor, the environment, and rule of law. This agreement will do little to help workers either here or in South America. Once again we have yet more evidence that Donald Trump will undermine the American worker and the American marketplace to help a fellow right-wing authoritarian and to bolster his teetering re-election campaign."

In June, Rep. Pascrell and Ways and Means Committee Democrats sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer opposing an expanded partnership with the Bolsonaro regime, citing Bolsonaro’s disregard for the rights of workers, environmental protections, and basic human rights.