Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed his displeasure with Vale SA, the world’s largest iron-ore miner, for firing workers during the financial crisis, his chief of staff told Folha de S. Paulo.
Concern for the country’s national wealth is the government’s “obligation,” Chief of Staff Dilma Rousseff told the Sao Paulo-based newspaper. Companies cannot explore national resources and not give back, she said, according to Folha.
Vale spokesman Fernando Thompson declined to comment on the report when contacted by Bloomberg News.
Rousseff, who may run for president to succeed Lula, said whoever defends the market as a solution to everything is “against the current and against reality,” Folha reported. She told Folha she accepts being called a “nationalist.”
The country cannot be “ashamed of being more patriotic,” Rousseff said, according to Folha.