ARGENTINE President Mauricio Macri said his government would definitely appeal to the World Trade Organization (WTO) if the U.S. Commerce Department followed through on threatened duties on Argentine biodiesel.

“I can assure you [U.S. Commerce] Secretary [Wilbur] Ross is doing his best to find an agreement with the U.S. private sector,” Macri said Tuesday. “Still we didn’t find it but I’m still optimistic.”

Macri, though, replied in the affirmative when asked whether his government would go to the WTO to contest the duties if they were confirmed at the preliminary level of as much as 64.17 percent.

The U.S. Commerce Department is expected to make a decision setting final antidumping duties on Argentine and Indonesian biodiesel, which threatens to price its exports of the primarily soy-based fuel out of the U.S. market.

Argentina has been trying to settle the trade dispute by negotiating a minimum price for its exports, but no deal has yet been reached.

Macri, who reached out to U.S. President Donald Trump soon after he was elected in a bid to rekindle a relationship they formed as businessmen before entering politics, portrayed the dispute as one between private industries rather than governments. (SD-Agencies)