Turkey doubles tariffs on US imports such as cars and alcoholic beverages
Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay said the new tariffs were in retaliation for America’s conscious attacks on his country’s economy.
Turkey on Wednesday raised the tariffs on several US imports, including cars, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, coal, cosmetics and rice in retaliation for the allegedly deliberate attacks on its economy, BBC reported.
Turkish Vice-President Fuat Oktay said the new tariffs were ordered “within the framework of reciprocity in retaliation for the conscious attacks on our economy by the US administration”.
The government has raised the tariff on alcohol to 140%, cars to 120% and leaf tobacco to 60%.
#Turkey imposes additional tariffs on US imports ranging from 10 to 120 % in retaliation to US sanctions. The measure covers vehicles, tobacco products, rice, alcoholic beverages, coal, beauty products, paper etc. pic.twitter.com/G5dT4DNckN
— Abdullah Bozkurt (@abdbozkurt) August 15, 2018
The move came a day after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara will boycott electronic products from Washington, in response to United States’ sanctions against his country for detaining an American pastor. The two countries have also been embroiled in a spat over the Syrian civil war and other diplomatic matters.
US sanctions have led to a fall in the value of the lira, the Turkish currency, to record lows. The American pastor, Andrew Brunson, who was detained in October 2016 on terrorism-related charges after a failed coup attempt in Turkey, has said that he will appeal his house arrest and travel ban.
United States President Donal Trump said last week that his country’s relations with Turkey – an ally in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – were “not good at this time”.
