The United States on Monday downgraded Brazil and South Africa, both key targets of President Donald Trump, in a report on efforts to combat human trafficking.
The annual State Department report, the first since Trump’s return to the White House, put the two powers of the BRICS emerging economy bloc on a watchlist, one step above a blacklist that carries potential sanctions.
In South Africa, “the government identified fewer victims, investigated fewer cases and initiated fewer prosecutions,” the report said, using similar language for Brazil.
It said that Brazil has completed no prosecutions under a 2016 anti-trafficking statute, despite what the report said were estimates of tens of thousands of trafficking victims in Brazil.
The Trump administration has downplayed the importance of highlighting human rights, saying the issue can be used against hostile countries but should not interfere with US priorities with friendly governments.
Trump has imposed punitive tariffs on Brazil and on a key judge as the United States tried unsuccessfully to stop the prosecution of Jair Bolsonaro, Trump’s ideological ally who has been sentenced to 27 years in prison on a conviction of plotting a coup as he tried to cling to power.
On South Africa, Trump has accused the post-apartheid government of persecuting white farmers, embracing a grievance of white nationalists.
Countries that remained on the “Tier 3” blacklist mostly included US adversaries such as China, Russia and Venezuela but also Cambodia, where the report charged that government officials have been complicit in online forced labor scams.
Laos and Chad were both downgraded to the lowest tier, with the report pointing to a lack of action, while Djibouti and Turkmenistan were both upgraded from the bottom.
