Brazil imposed strict new regulations on SWPM to combat the threat of the Asian Longhorned Beetle. All SWPM entering Brazil must be free of bark and live pests.
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service assured Brazil that the Asian Longhorned Beetle affects only metropolitan Chicago and the New York/Long Island area. APHIS’s quarantine and eradication program ensures that the pest is not associated with SWPM coming from the U.S. and does not put other nations at risk.
Brazil notified its border inspectors of the U.S. exemption but says it will reinstate the requirements if the U.S. infestation of the beetle spreads beyond Illinois and New York or if the beetle is found in a future U.S. shipment.