Erdogan: Trump is using 'trade as a means to achieve political goals’
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A day after Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Donald Trump faced off at the United Nations General Assembly debate, Erdogan criticized the Trump administration at a Turkish-American business dinner.
“One of [the] greatest challenges today is the tendency of the Trump administration to use trade as a means to achieve political goals,” said Erdogan at the 9th Turkey Investment Conference at Gotham Hall in New York City Wednesday evening.
Turkey and the U.S. have been involved in a trade spat since Trump announced the doubling of duties on steel and aluminum from Turkey. Turkish officials retaliated with duties on U.S. goods including cars, alcohol and tobacco.
Turkey has been in an economic crisis. Its currency, the lira, dropped 30% in August after the Trump administration increased tariffs on steel and aluminum, 50% and 20%, respectively, and threatened to impose sanctions on the country over a pastor imprisoned in Turkey. The lira has plunged 60% year to date.
At the event, Erdogan touted the Turkish economy and talked about the trade imbalance between the U.S. and Turkey.
Turkey is the U.S.’s 32nd largest goods trading partner, with exports of $12.4 billion and imports of $9.9 billion in 2016. The U.S. goods and services trade surplus with Turkey was $2.5 billion in 2016. Last year, $19.2 billion in total goods traded between the two countries, according to the latest data available from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
“Our trade balance favors the U.S. against the interest of Turkey, however despite this landscape they’re taking protectionist measures in our communities by using tariffs,” said Erdogan.
Just last month, Erdogan retaliated with tariffs of his own and told Turkish citizens not to buy iPhones and to sell their U.S. dollars. But at the dinner, he defended free trade and multilateralism. Erdogan also praised the United Nations’ efforts and said Turkey historically had a good relationship with the U.S., but that relationship was being “put to a historic test.”
Maylan Studart is a reporter for Yahoo Finance
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