Trump says orders doubling of steel, aluminium tariffs against Turkey

Trump said that he has doubled the steel and aluminium tariffs already in place against imports from Turkey
Friday, 10 August 2018 15:51

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he has doubled the steel and aluminium tariffs already in place against imports from Turkey.

"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! Aluminium will now be 20% and Steel 50%," Trump said in a Twitter message.

"Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!" he said in an early morning post.

Harsher US tariffs were likely to punish Turkey's already faltering steel exports to the United States.

In the first three months of 2018, Turkish steel exports to the United States fell nearly 50 percent over the same period in 2017, making it the only top 10 source of US steel imports to see a decrease, according to the US Commerce Department.

In July, Trump announced possible sanctions against Turkey, in retaliation for the treatment of U.S. pastor Andrew Craig Brunson, who was detained in the aftermath of a failed 2016 coup against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The pastor is now under house arrest and faces up to 35 years in jail if found guilty.

The U.S. last week imposed sanctions on two Turkish cabinet ministers over the detention of Brunson.

On Wednesday, Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal met with officials at the departments of State and Treasury to discuss the dispute. But the talks ended without any assurances about Brunson, Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday citing U.S. officials.