Japanese government officials and business leaders reacted with measured anger Wednesday to a decision by U.S. President George W. Bush to slap tariffs on imported steel.

"It is regrettable," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said. The Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma said the government will decide on any countermeasures after consulting the European Union and South Korea.

In Brussels, EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy said the EU plans to bring the case to the WTO.

Under WTO rules member governments are prohibited from taking retaliatory steps against a safeguard measure.

Tokyo will have to decide whether to ask Washington to take countervailing steps by lowering tariffs on other import items, or to go to the WTO at once.

"It is extremely regrettable that the U.S. has decided to take the action, which will virtually squeeze steel imports (to the U.S. market), without listening to the voice of its trading partners, including Japan, and steel users within the U.S.," Hiranuma said in a statement.

Hiranuma questioned whether the U.S. is suffering enough to justify the import curbs under international trade rules of the WTO.

Bush announced that his government would invoke import restriction measures on imported steel products for three years to protect the domestic steel industry.

The WTO allows members to implement a safeguard mechanism to slow imports so a specific industry can adjust to heightened competition from foreign suppliers.

Japan steelmakers, facing tariffs up to 30 percent, are expected to suffer a lot.

In 2001, Japan exported 2.2 million tons of steel to the U.S., about 7 percent of its total steel exports.

Japan's steel exports to the U.S. have already tumbled to one-third of their peak, due to a spate of U.S. antidumping charges.

Hiranuma said Japanese steelmakers have thus shifted to exporting items not produced by U.S. rivals in low volume and in a stable manner.

An official at a major Japanese steelmaker anticipated additional losses -- the measure covers items that are exempt from current U.S. antidumping charges.

Akira Chihaya, chairman of the Japan Iron and Steel Federation and president of Nippon Steel Corp., said in a statement, "We cannot help but say that it was an unfair decision that imposes an excessive sacrifice on steel-exporting producers and U.S. customers."

A diplomat said he perceives the U.S. step is a "political decision by the president in the runup to midterm elections in the autumn."

The big U.S. steel mills that the tariffs are supposed to protect are burdened with antiquated technology and an expensive retirement package for former workers, both of which date back more than 50 years.

"At the root is the lack of competitiveness on the part of the U.S. steel industry," a trade official said. "And the policy is to protect the industry."