BRASILIA/RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – Brazil believes steel import quotas recently imposed upon the nation by the United States will be lifted as market conditions improve, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
Late on Friday, the White House announced that it was re-imposing import quotas on certain Brazilian steel products, as domestic producers deal with a slumping market.
In Brazil’s Saturday statement, the foreign ministry acknowledged the decision, adding that dialogue over the matter would resume in December.
“The Brazilian government maintains a strong belief that the recovery of the U.S. steel sector, frank and constructive dialogue regarding the matter – to be taken back up in December – and the exceptional quality of bilateral relations will allow the full re-establishment and even intensification of trade in semi-finished steel,” the ministry said.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu in Brasilia and Gram Slattery in Rio de Janeiro; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
