Rio, 6 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - The undersecretary of Integration, Economic and Foreign Trade Mattes at the Foreign Relations Ministry, ambassador José Alfredo Graça Lima, was cautious in commenting on the safeguards announced Tuesday by the U.S. government for domestic imports of steel products. He said that he was informed of the protectionist measures by journalists and explained that it would be "premature and irresponsible" to make any comment without a more profound analysis of the issue.

According to Graça Lima, the important thing is to analyze whether any decision taken violates the norms of international trade. In this case, he said that Brazil won't hesitate in appealing to the World Trade Organization (WTO). (MW)