SAO PAULO: Brazilian President Michel Temer said Wednesday he intends to call President Donald Trump to complain about plans for US tariffs on imports of foreign steel and aluminum -- and warned of WTO action.
"Very soon I will call President Trump, including to check the suggestions that he appreciates receiving calls from countries that are facing this quite big increase in tariffs," Temer said at a regional economic forum in Sao Paulo.
Temer warned that if "there is no friendly solution very quickly, we will go to the WTO -- not unilaterally but with all the countries affected by this measure," he said, referring to the World Trade Organization.
Temer said Brazil was "very worried."
Brazil is the second biggest steel exporter to the United States after Canada -- and would be hit hard by Trump's imposition of 25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminum.
Trump has said that NAFTA partners Canada and Mexico will be exempted, but the scope of the tariffs is not yet clear.