Brazilian investigators said on Friday that the Jinjiang Group, a subsidiary of Chinese auto giant BYD contracted to build a factory in Brazil, pressured Chinese workers to sign abusive contracts that treated them as slaves.
The Brazilian government stopped issuing work visas for BYD in December after local authorities rescued 163 Chinese nationals from conditions “analogous to slavery” at a factory under construction in the city of Camacari.
BYD, an electric vehicle giant with deep connections to the Chinese Communist Party, took over the location in Brazil from Ford Motor Company. Ford halted operations in Brazil in 2021 and sold off its factory location to the local government in 2023. BYD bought the land and brought in laborers from China on temporary visas to begin constructing a new factory.
WATCH — “Here I Am!” — Trump Warns China over Taking Advantage of American Workers While He Was Gone:
The plant was supposed to begin producing electric vehicles (EVs) in March 2025. BYD sells most of its cars in China, but Brazil is currently its largest export market. The factory was touted as a symbolic victory over American automakers and a sign of growing Chinese influence in Latin America.
Instead, the Brazilian labor ministry heard rumors of abuse and raided the factory in late December, discovering miserable living conditions for the workers, who were forced to surrender their passports to their employers to ensure they could not quit. Inspectors found 31 workers crammed into a tiny house with only one bathroom.
On Friday, Brazilian investigators released documents that demonstrated Jinjiang’s work contracts violated both Brazilian and Chinese labor laws.
In addition to confiscating passports from its employees, Jinjiang could extend their labor contracts for up to six months without requiring the agreement of workers. The company leveled heavy fines against its workers for trivial offenses, such as using harsh language, and also withheld some of their salaries to guarantee obedience.
Some of the workers told inspectors they did not have contracts at all, while others said they were given no papers to sign until they reached Brazil.
Brazilian labor inspectors further accused BYD and Jinjiang of hindering their investigation by failing to provide information such as the address of the workers’ dormitory. Brazilians working at the BYD factory have also begun to complain of poor working conditions, including a shortage of drinking water.
Brazilian officials say they have grown suspicious of other Chinese construction projects in their country, including a billion-dollar bridge construction project, for fear that forced labor might be used. The Brazilians are also annoyed that China is importing so many of its workers to handle the projects, instead of hiring locals.
BYD claims it was unaware of labor abuses at the Camacari plant, while Jinjiang has disputed the allegations of mistreatment and forced labor.
The controversy is a major headache for socialist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a former union steelworker who hoped China’s factory project would bring high-tech jobs into a region that serves as one of his political strongholds.
Lula’s headache grew worse on Wednesday, when a consortium of international automakers urged his government to investigate BYD and another Chinese brand, Great Wall Motors, for product dumping. The auto group is urging Lula to slap heavy tariffs on Chinese cars to “defend fair competition and prevent practices that harm Brazil’s automotive market.”
