Brazil files WTO protest over U.S. tariff plans

RIO DE JANEIRO, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Brazil filed a protest Monday with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the U.S. tariffs plan on steel imports and urged the White House to reconsider its decision, authorities said.

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Brazil told a WTO meeting that the global trading system is "not living normal times" and that the institution is "facing serious challenges, including existential" ones, said the country's foreign ministry in a statement.

For Brazil, "protectionism is at the center of the threat. This recent unilateral announcement, by an important member of the WTO, takes this threat to a new level," the statement said.

Brazil's protest came after U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week that he wants to levy an extra 25-percent tax on steel imports and a 10-percent tax on imported aluminum.

"We have deep preoccupations on the systematic implications (of this threat), which could have severe consequences that are in nobody's interests," the statement added.

The Brazilian minster of development, industry and foreign trade traveled to Washington to try to change the minds of the U.S. authorities.

According to a study by Brazil's National Confederation of Industry, such tariffs could cause losses of 3.15 billion U.S. dollars a year for the Brazilian industry.

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