But Brussels has also inflicted pain on more than a dozen countries with which it has free-trade deals, saying they had accepted average steel quota reductions of a third. They include Brazil, the largest economy in the Latin American Mercosur bloc, where a broader trade accord only entered into force in May after years of negotiations.

Brazil denied the existence of any such steel understanding. “To date, there has been no agreement between Brazil and the EU regarding compensation,” its ministries of foreign affairs and trade said in a strongly-worded statement on Wednesday night.

In a comment after this article was published, the Commission said it had engaged constructively with Brazil over the past four months and negotiations would continue.

“Discussions to date have clearly demonstrated a shared commitment to finding a mutually acceptable solution,” a Commission spokesperson said. “We are working towards finalizing an agreement with a trusted partner like Brazil.”

Before Brazil spoke out, a senior EU official had said on Tuesday that the secretive quota negotiations held at World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva had not been easy.

“We are serving a smaller pie and therefore, inevitably, the pieces that we’re cutting on both sides will be smaller for each country,” said the official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.