FILE PHOTO: Finnish Minister of Finance Mika Lintila attends tour de table of the informal meeting of ministers for economic and financial affairs (ECOFIN) and Eurogroup in Helsinki, Finland, 13 September 2019 Emmi Korhonen via REUTERS

HELSINKI (Reuters) - The Finnish Finance Minister Mika Lintila said on Friday the European Union should block imports of beef from Brazil, and also consider a suspension of soybeans import to put pressure on the Brazilian government to counter wildfires in the Amazon.

Finland, which holds the temporary presidency of the EU, has asked EU authorities to “discontinue the import of beef from Brazil,” Lintila told a news conference in Helsinki.

He added that he was considering doing the same about soybeans with the aim of “increasing pressure, so the Brazilian government would do something on forest fires.”