A U.S. congressman is pushing to suspend certain trade preferences with Brazil until a boy at the center of a custody dispute there is returned to his father in New Jersey.
New Jersey Republican Chris Smith introduced a bill Thursday that would temporarily remove Brazil from a duty-free trade program. He says Brazil received benefits on $2.75 billion worth of trade last year.
Smith is a champion for David Goldman, whose wife took their son to Brazil in 2004. She died last year, and the boy has been living with his Brazilian stepfather.
A court in Brazil ruled that Goldman should get custody. But the country's supreme court is planning to review the case next week.
On Thursday, Goldman called the situation “an absolute tragedy.”
Goldman flew back to New Jersey without his son this morning.
