Trump hits Turkey with big tariffs
Duties on imports of metals follow dispute over detained pastor
WASHINGTON – Wielding tariffs as a foreign policy weapon, President Donald Trump said Friday he would increase duties on steel and aluminum from Turkey as the two nations argue about an imprisoned American.
“I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar!” Trump tweeted. “Aluminum will now be 20% and Steel 50%.”
He added: “Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!”
The threat came little more than a week after the Trump administration placed sanctions on Turkish officials over the imprisonment of pastor Andrew Brunson of North Carolina, calling his detention “unjust” and “unacceptable.”
The sanctions targeted Turkish Minister of Justice Abdulhamit Gul and Minister of Interior Suleyman Soylu. Those penalties have contributed to a slide in the value of the Turkey’s currency, the lira, amid fears of a broad economic crisis.
Bulent Aliriza, an expert on Turkey with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank, said increasing tariffs will push Turkey’s economy “into more difficult waters.” Turkey is a NATO ally.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded defiantly to Trump’s announcement on Friday.
“We will not lose the economic war,” Erdogan said during a tour of Black Sea provinces, according to the Hurriyet Daily News, an English-language outlet. “This is a national struggle.”
The proposed tariff hikes come just days after Turkey’s deputy foreign minister was in Washington to meet with U.S. officials on a range of contentious issues, including Brunson’s detention.
Turkey accuses Brunson, arrested in 2016, of being a spy and says he was involved in an attempted coup. The U.S. says he has been falsely charged.