TRADE

Steel Talks to Resume: The government plans to commence a new round of multilateral steel-trade talks this week at a time of strained relations between U.S. producers and their foreign competitors. The negotiations, set to resume Wednesday in Geneva, are expected to involve many of the same countries that are targets of sweeping unfair trade complaints filed by U.S. steel makers in June. The Commerce Department last week imposed temporary import taxes on steel from Italy, Germany, South Korea and nine other countries. Complaints could diminish the prospect for progress in Geneva, where some 30 nations have been invited to discuss curtailing government subsidies to steel companies. “A sweeping agreement would really surprise me,” said Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Institute for International Economics. “I wouldn’t be terribly optimistic.”