Brazil's metals sector is worried about a drop in exports due to US President Donald Trump's tariffs plan. Our Lucrecia Franco has more from Rio de Janeiro.

Carrying anti-Trump banners, Brazilian steelworkers protested outside the US Consulate in March. The US President had just announced plans to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.

JOAO CARLOS GONCALVES TRADE UNION REPRESENTATIVE "Nearly one hundred thousand jobs are at risk, not only in the steel industry, but spread out across the entire production chain."

US plans to impose a 25% tariff on steel and 10% on aluminium was suspended until the end of April, but then came back in the form of an ultimatum: quotas or tariffs. For now, Brazil's steel industry opted, in principal, to accept quotas because of its large volume of exports. The aluminium industry, a smaller exporter, accepted tariffs. The Chairman of the Brazil-China Business Council, representing nearly eighty Brazilian and Chinese companies, questions the logic of US tariffs.

LUIS AUGUSTO CASTRO NEVES CHINA-BRAZIL BUSINESS COUNCIL "The imposition of a tariff would harm our industry, would lead our industry to decrease our exports to the US and would also lead our metalogic coal imports from the US to decrease as well. So I don't see which side is taking more advantage of all that."

For Li Yang, Chinese General Consul to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will be an important strategic ally in a response to the United States. 

LI YANG CHINESE CONSUL GENERAL IN RIO DE JANEIRO "There is a new factor. This is a war imposed by President Trump. Against this new backdrop, we should move more rapidly closer and closer towards each other."

Brazil's metal industry is worried that exports could be reduced by between 20 and 60 percent. Last year alone, Brazil sold 4.7 million tons of steel to the US last year.  While President Michel Temer has been cautious in his response to the new US tariffs, he has not discarded taking the issue to the World Trade Organization.

LUCRECIA FRANCO RIO DE JANEIRO The Brazilian President is keeping a low profile, but has expressed hope for a better deal, saying the government continues to study its options and that no final decision has been made. Lucrecia Franco, CGTN, Rio de Janeiro.