Turkey hits back at Trump, imposes tariffs on US goods worth $1.8 bn

The Turkish government imposed tariffs of $266.5 million on $1.8 billion worth of US goods Thursday in retaliation for President Donald Trump’s levies on steel and aluminum imports.

“We cannot and will not allow Turkey to be wrongly blamed for America’s economic challenges,” Turkish Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci said in a statement. “We are part of the solution, not the problem.”

The tariffs will affect 19 per cent of the $9.4 billion worth of goods that the US exports to Turkey, according to data provided by the US Trade Representative. 

Total goods and services trade between US and Turkey was $22.4 billion in 2016, the most recent data available.

The move comes as other World Trade Organization members prepare to trigger retaliatory tariffs against the US. Under the global trade body’s Safeguards Agreement members can apply “substantially equivalent concessions or other obligations” in response to tariffs imposed by another member.

In the coming weeks U.S. farmers and manufacturers could face at least $3.5 billion worth of tariffs on at least $26.9 billion worth of goods from countries responding to Trump’s metal tariffs.