Tariff talks with US to be held in constructive manner: Turkish trade minister

ISTANBUL

Türkiye's Trade Minister Omer Bolat said that his country would carry out tariff negotiations with the US in a constructive manner with mutual understanding.

“The first contacts on this issue have already been made, and will be held at the ministerial level in the coming days,” Bolat said.

He attended economic meetings along with other Turkish officials in the northern province of Giresun and spoke to reporters on Friday.

Bolat said that the US President Donald Trump's tariff decisions and retaliatory measures by other countries have created a huge “dust cloud” in the global economy.

"We think that we both do not deserve and do not expect 10% tariff. But at this point, we will conduct our negotiations with the US with a mutual understanding, in a positive environment, in a constructive way," he said.

Bolat pointed out that the issues of how other countries will be affected by the developments in global trade and how this situation will affect Türkiye's trade with these countries are important.

"This section is at least as important as Türkiye-US trade relations, and we are making preparations at this point. In this sense, we will not allow Türkiye to become a warehouse where goods will be unloaded, especially by rival countries, we are determined in this regard.

"We will use all the powers given to us by world trade rules. In fact, it is a very difficult time for the World Trade Organization because unilateral decisions have caused serious damage to the multilateral rule-based system in the world. We hope that in terms of global growth and global trade, a compromise will be reached between countries without the cost of this uncertainty being too high, and that trade will continue to be the engine of world growth,” Bolat added.