Brazil prosecutors sue Chinese carmaker BYD for violating labor rights
The lawsuit seeks 257 million reais ($45 million) in moral damages from BYD and two contractors, JinJiang and Tecmonta, according to the statement from the labor prosecutors' office, along with individual compensation for workers.
Prosecutors are also looking to force the companies to comply with various labor rules and seek a fine of 50,000 reais for each breach, multiplied by the number of affected workers.
In response, BYD said it is committed to upholding human rights and respects Brazilian and international labor protections. The company also said in a statement that it has been cooperating with labor prosecutors and will respond to the lawsuit in court documents.
In December, prosecutors said 220 Chinese workers hired by BYD contractors in the Brazilian state of Bahia were found working in 'slavery-like conditions.' Prosecutors said they were also victims of international human trafficking.
Fabio Leal, a deputy labor prosecutor, said in an interview that talks with the three companies began in late December, but failed to reach an agreement. He declined to provide further details on why the talks were unsuccessful.
Leal said the workers were brought to Brazil illegally and promised working conditions that were not fulfilled. He said the Chinese workers, who have all returned to China, would receive any payouts from a lawsuit there, with the companies in Brazil responsible for providing proof of payment.
Leal added that a settlement is still possible, although now it will need to be facilitated through the court.
'Our lawsuit is very well-founded, with a substantial amount of evidence provided during the investigation process,' he said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Yahoo
Is It Finally Time to Jump Off the BYD Bandwagon?
Key Points Analysts have been downgrading BYD's full-year delivery forecast. BYD is currently on pace to fall short of 2025 delivery estimates. BYD is facing a challenging Chinese market amid a brutal price war. 10 stocks we like better than BYD Company › Over the past few years, BYD investors have been spoiled. The Chinese electric vehicle (EV) juggernaut swept through the country's domestic EV market with relative ease and then applied tremendous pricing pressure with a long list of highly affordable and compelling EV vehicle options. While BYD has been a no brainer winner over the past five years with its stock trading nearly 380% higher over that time, it might finally be showing signs of slowing down. Time to jump off the BYD hype train? BYD's monthly sales and deliveries have stagnated over the summer months, which are traditionally slower selling months, providing fresh challenges for China's EV giant. Not only is BYD dealing with slowing sales, but it's also being reprimanded vocally by the Chinese government for applying so much pressure on pricing that it's caused a race to the bottom, slowly but surely eating away at industry margins. BYD slashed prices by as much as 34% in May, causing increased government scrutiny on the industry. In fact, in what would be a rare miss for the top Chinese EV maker, the company looks like it's going to fall short of its annual sales target for 2025. BYD would need to sell roughly 560,000 units monthly through December to hit its sales target, which would be more vehicles sold in one month than it ever has in its history -- BYD sold just short of 515,000 vehicles last December. And now analysts are stumbling over themselves to downgrade BYD's annual sales estimates. In fact, Deutsche Bank AG said it now expects BYD to deliver 5 million in wholesales, which is simply deliveries to dealer networks, which breaks down into 4 million domestic deliveries and 1 million overseas as the company continues its global expansion. Morgan Stanley lowered its delivery projection to 5.3 million last month, noting that a smaller number of new models would be a drag on company deliveries. Perhaps even worse yet, Bloomberg Intelligence's Joanne Chen said BYD will be forced to sacrifice some profits, while maintaining large incentives and discounting, if it wants to stay on track and have a chance at reaching its delivery estimates. "Regulatory scrutiny will temper direct cuts to vehicle sticker prices but competition isn't going away and retail promotions are still needed to sustain sales momentum," Chen said, according to Automotive News. "New model roll outs and steady tech upgrade are also crucial." Global expansion Further, when you back out BYD's global expansion and the estimated deliveries overseas, investors will see that BYD's domestic car deliveries in China are shrinking. In June, domestic deliveries slipped 8%, compared to the prior year. HSBC data shows that Geely was the largest gainer of market share during the first half of 2025, while BYD was one of the biggest losers. Back to looking at BYD's global expansion, while the company is on pace to reach its forecast of 800,000 overseas deliveries, it still faces challenges in two emerging markets: Saudi Arabia and India. Both markets are potentially huge, but Saudi Arabia has EV market share of just 1% of total sales and faces high costs, charging infrastructure challenges, and extreme temperatures that make EV adoption slower in the region. India, the world's third largest automotive market, has similar problems and substantial tariff headwinds that can increase the cost of imported vehicles by 100% in some cases. Ultimately, investors should prepare for an inevitable slowdown in BYD's expansion after years of rocketing higher in deliveries and stock price. That said, eventually it's likely that BYD and other Chinese automakers will enter the U.S. market, and that could provide the company's next massive boost in deliveries and financials -- but when that will happen is anyone's guess. Long-term investors should stay the course because even if BYD slows down from its rapid rise it's still in an incredible position to thrive globally in the years ahead. Should you invest $1,000 in BYD Company right now? Before you buy stock in BYD Company, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and BYD Company wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $636,628!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $1,063,471!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,041% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 183% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of July 21, 2025 HSBC Holdings is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Daniel Miller has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends BYD Company and HSBC Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Is It Finally Time to Jump Off the BYD Bandwagon? was originally published by The Motley Fool Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
2 days ago
Is Elon Musk to blame for Tesla's struggles? Experts weigh in
Tesla, the electric carmaker led by Elon Musk, suffered a sharp drop in profits over a recent three-month period as car sales slowed and tariffs hiked costs, the company said this week. Shareholders envisioned a different outcome when Tesla stock surged more than 50% in the aftermath of the November 2024 election of President Donald Trump, then a close ally of Musk. Since a recent peak in December, the majority of those gains have been erased. Musk, the company's chief executive and the world's richest person, draws attention due in part to his outspoken presence on social media and divisive stint in the White House. The recent struggles at Tesla have coincided with increased competition in the electric vehicle (EV) industry, posing a question for analysts: Is Musk partially to blame? Experts who spoke to ABC News acknowledged the surge of EV competition and credited Musk with pushing the company into potential growth areas like humanoid robots and self-driving taxis, the latter of which are being tested in Austin, Texas. The company's downturn in part reflects a transition from EVs to those new products, which have yet to generate meaningful revenue, they added. Still, the experts said, Musk bears some of the blame for the company's difficulty fending off other EV makers as well as a delayed rollout of alternate products. They also pointed to losses suffered as result of some of Trump's policies, which Musk struggled to mitigate while serving in the administration. "Musk is CEO -- the buck stops with him. As a CEO in a competitive environment, he's the one who has to have the vision and lead the troops," David Meier, a senior investment analyst at The Motley Fool, told ABC News. "But there's a lot going on in the world that impacts Tesla's business." Tesla did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment. Speaking on an earnings call on Wednesday, Musk said the company faces "a few rough quarters ahead." He added that, ultimately, humanoid robots and driverless taxis would make Tesla "the most valuable company in the world by far." The company's profits fell 16% over a three-month period ending in June that overlapped with the end of Musk's tenure in the White House and his ensuing public clash with Trump, an earnings release on Wednesday showed. Total revenue decreased by 12% from one year earlier, to $22.4 billion, while revenue derived from car sales dropped 16% over the second quarter of 2025 compared to a year ago, the earnings showed. In a statement, Tesla touted a "strong balance sheet," but acknowledged a "sustained uncertain macroeconomic environment resulting from shifting tariffs." The company also faces "unclear impacts from changes to fiscal policy and political sentiment," Tesla said. The company has faced heightened competition from domestic and foreign carmakers rolling out electric vehicles. Chinese EV-maker BYD outperformed Tesla in total car sales for the first time ever last year. BYD vehicles are essentially unavailable in the U.S. due to sky-high tariffs on Chinese EVs. "Part of it is outside of Tesla's control," Seth Goldstein, an analyst who studies the EV sector at research firm Morningstar, told ABC News. Goldstein cited an apparent dropoff in sales earlier this year among consumers awaiting a refresh of the company's popular Model Y. However, Goldstein added, the company has been slow to release an affordable EV model in response to a flurry of low-cost options among its rivals, which include China's BYD and traditional carmakers like Nissan and Hyundai. "Looking at Elon Musk, he's the leader of Tesla. It's fair to wonder if he was a little distracted with his political action in the first half of the year and that caused some production to slip, including production of an affordable model," Goldstein said. Musk's position at the White House, which ended in May, appeared to yield few benefits for Tesla. The company faces a pinch from several Trump policies, including the end of tax credits for EV buyers, the nixing of regulatory credits purchased from Tesla by other firms, as well as tariffs on cars and car parts. The CEO's political role also set off demonstrations at Tesla dealerships worldwide in protest of his effort to slash government spending as leader of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). "It was a dark chapter and investors are glad to put it in the rear-view mirror," Dan Ives, a managing director of equity research at the investment firm Wedbush and a longtime Tesla bull, told ABC News. As car sales have slowed, Musk has touted a future autonomous car service, dubbed robotaxis, as a growth area for the business. Last month, Tesla launched a limited version of what it claimed is a self-driving taxi service in Austin, Texas. The rollout marked a milestone for the company's self-driving taxi aspirations, but limitations placed on the vehicles and a series of apparent miscues suggest the technology remains far from wide adoption, some analysts previously told ABC News. Musk has also touted humanoid robots as a future growth area for Tesla. While the product remains in an early phase, Musk expects the company to eventually produce more than a million robots each year, he said on this week's earnings call. Goldstein, of Morningstar, applauded Musk's effort to move Tesla away from the highly competitive auto market toward nascent tech sectors. "Musk's long-term goal is to transition from an automaker to an AI robotics company -- that's still on track and making progress," Goldstein said. "That's where it has greater opportunities to grow a competitive advantage." The ultimate outcome for Tesla's forthcoming products remains unclear but Musk has earned the benefit of the doubt, according to some analysts.
The Hill
2 days ago
- The Hill
Trump's new ‘Monroe Doctrine' is driving China out of Latin America
Chinese President Xi Jinping was noticeably absent from the recent BRICS Summit in Brazil. It was a sign of the times. China is losing ground in Latin America, and many of its companies are packing up for Africa. These events could be the result of a change in the rules of the game — or perhaps just the leadership of President Trump and his new Monroe Doctrine. The Trump administration has renewed and reinforced the Monroe Doctrine of 1823, establishing a zero-tolerance policy for interference from extracontinental powers in the Americas. These changes have forced China to reevaluate and redirect many of its multi-million-dollar projects in transportation, telecommunications, infrastructure and strategic minerals. Political setbacks also include countries seeking closer ties and stronger alliances with Taiwan, a nation that China claims as its own territory. China is losing ground in Mexico. China's BYD, the world's largest electric car company and main competitor to Tesla, announced that it has canceled the construction of a huge electric vehicle plant in Mexico. The project would have the capacity to produce up to 150,000 cars per year, generating millions of dollars for China. The company seems to recognize the Trump effect; the new U.S. leadership has led them to rethink their expansion plans in Latin America. 'Geopolitical issues have a huge impact on the automotive industry,' said Stella Li, vice president of BYD. China also suffered a massive setback in Ecuador's mining sector. The firm Terraearth Resources canceled four projects after Ecuador's government decided to suspend exploration and exploitation activities due to noncompliance with environmental regulations. The Chinese strategy for controlling supplied of lithium is also failing. BYD and Tsingshan have canceled plans to build lithium processing plants in Chile, investments worth around $500 million and generating a projected 1,200 jobs. Lithium is essential for electric vehicles and is considered a strategic material in trade matters and, more importantly, in security issues. Chile has one of the largest lithium reserves in the world, and China lost lucrative business here. The defeats and delays of Chinese firms' projects in Latin America are a result of the new and strengthened U.S. leadership. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's first international trip was not to Europe or Asia, but to Central America. A categorical message was sent: Latin America, and especially Central America, are a priority for the U.S. Rubio's visit resulted in the end of the Belt-and-Road Initiative agreement signed between Panama and China — an unprecedented defeat for the communist geopolitical game in the so-called Global South. In Panama, the telecommunications company Huawei also suffered a blow. The Chinese firm, criticized for its ties to the People's Liberation Army, had to eliminate its systems in 13 strategic locations, which were replaced with American-made technology. Costa Rica is also moving with the winds of change. The Foreign Trade Promotion Agency sent a delegation to Taiwan to explore business opportunities, particularly in the semiconductor sector, where Taipei is a world leader. Costa Rica's Intelligence and Security Office also participated in a training session in Taiwan. Both events generated strong diplomatic complaints from China. The changes in Panama and Costa Rica are not coincidental; they are strategic. These two nations are undisputed leaders in Central America and what they do influences the region. China knows it and is in panic mode. Trump's new Monroe Doctrine and leadership through strength are atypical, unpredictable, politically incorrect, but undeniably successful. China is sending clear signals of pressure and pain, reevaluating, restricting and rerouting many of its investments. It is losing the battle one day at a time. Arturo McFields is an exiled journalist, former Nicaraguan ambassador to the Organization of American States, and a former member of the Norwegian Peace Corps. He is an alumnus of the National Defense University's Security and Defense Seminar and the Harvard Leadership course.
