The president of the Brazilian steelmaker Gerdau, Gustavo Werneck, commented that the new US tariffs on imported steel do affect his company, but its position would be more comfortable than that of other domestic steel companies.

Werneck added that Gerdau has 11 long and specialty steel production units in North America and is considering expanding production capacity at plants in the United States. He stated that the decision to operate in the United States was made 35 years ago; it is clearly a good decision from a current perspective.

The president added that, while there is currently a flood of Chinese steel to Brazil, government measures are needed to deal with this situation. In addition to the country's complicated tax regulations, his company is considering investing more capital in the United States than in Brazil.