Turkish government is redoubling its efforts and measures to deal with the tariffs announced by Donald Trump, which have shaken international markets and stock exchanges. Turkey is on the list of 100 countries against which the United States has imposed reciprocal tariffs, which in the case of the Eurasian country will be of 10%.
In statements made in the last few hours and reported by the Turkish media, the Minister of Trade, Ömer Bolat, emphasised that the Turkish government will redouble its efforts to get Washington to withdraw the tariffs imposed on Turkey, accelerating sectorial reforms, boosting commercial diplomacy and negotiating directly the reduction of tariffs imposed on Turkish exports.
Bolat, who pointed out that the new trade policies promoted by Trump will accelerate changes in global supply chains, added that in order to minimise the potential impact of tariffs and create new opportunities, Turkey will implement important measures in key sectors such as textiles, clothing and machinery.
Earthquake in world markets
The announcement of the massive imposition of tariffs on a hundred countries around the world unleashed an earthquake in world markets as early as Thursday, with falls not seen since the crisis unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 that have affected all stock exchanges, starting with Wall Street. Despite this, Trump and his vice president J.D. Vance have insisted in recent hours on conveying a message of tranquillity, saying that the consequences will be temporary and that the US economy will emerge victorious.
The US president assured in this regard that the US stock markets ‘will boom’, and insisted that his goal is to strengthen the American economy by making it less dependent on foreign manufacturers.
The impact of Trump’s announcement has been felt on stock markets in the US, Europe and Asia, with some countries such as Turkey showing a willingness to negotiate, but also others such as China immediately announcing reciprocal tariffs against US products and companies, while Beijing has reached out to Europe to counter Washington’s measures proposing a greater economic cooperation with the EU.
Turkey and the EU strengthen their trade cooperation
Bilateral trade between Turkey and the United States reached 32,58 billion dollars last year, with Ankara registering a trade surplus of some 120 million dollars in its commercial exchanges with the world’s leading power. In 2024, Turkish exports to the US grew by 9.9% to a total of 16.35 billion dollars, with the United States accounting for 6.2% of the total export income obtained by the Turkish state; in turn, imports from the US grew last year by 2.8% to 16.23 billion dollars, according to official data.
In response to the tariffs announced by Trump, Turkey is also seeking to counter the measures imposed by the US with greater trade cooperation with the European Union, its main trading partner. At the first High Level Economic Dialogue (HLED) meeting held in six years and which took place yesterday in Brussels, the Turkish Minister of Finance, Mehmet Şimşek, met with the European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, and the Commissioner for EU Enlargement, Marta Kos, in a meeting in which they addressed issues such as the updating of the customs union and the visa exemption for Turkish citizens.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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