Turkey accuses US of economic war

– The lira weakened yesterday, staying under pressure as a damaging standoff between Turkey and the US centred on the fate of a Christian pastor showed no signs of easing.

Ankara accused Washington of waging “economic war” and failing to respect its legal system over Andrew Brunson, whose trial in Turkey on terrorism charges, which he denies, has soured ties between the Nato allies.

Ankara

The lira dipped 1.1% to 6.1000 against the dollar from a close of 6.0330. It is down 38% this year, with the crisis in Turkish-US relations adding to losses triggered by concern about President Tayyip Erdogan’s influence over monetary policy.

Erdogan’s spokesperson said overnight that President Donald Trump’s national security advisor’s comments showed the US was targeting Turkey’s economy. John Bolton said Turkey had made a “big mistake”, describing $15 billion (R213bn) of investment from Qatar “utterly insufficient to have an impact on Turkey’s economy”.

“This is proof the administration is targeting a Nato ally in an economic war,” spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said. “The Trump administration has ... established it intends to use trade, tariffs and sanctions to start a global trade war.” – Reuters