Turkey hiked retaliatory tariffs against US

Emre Özpeynirci-ISTANBUL

The final additional tariffs on various U.S. products by Turkey have been higher than it had earlier been reported to the World Trade Organization (WTO), a cabinet decision showed on June 26.

Turkey had started implementing retaliatory tariffs against the United States on June 21 over additional steel tariffs enacted by Washington.

In an application document to the WTO on May 22, Ankara had earlier announced that it would apply countermeasures on Washington through $266.5 million in additional duties on the imports of 22 U.S. items, including coal, paper, walnuts/almonds, tobacco, unprocessed rice, whiskey, automobiles, cosmetics, machinery and equipment, and petrochemical products, unless Washington abolishes the tariffs.

The cabinet decision published on the Official Gazette however showed that Turkey increased additional tariffs on various products, including mainly bourbon and automotive.

Turkey has now imposed a 70 percent additional tariff on bourbon, while the previously planned rate was 40 percent.

Likewise, the additional tariff on U.S. cars has also been hiked to 60 percent from a previous 35 percent.

In some products the additional tariffs were lowered, such as PVC products and petroleum coke product imports.

$300 mln in additional tariffs

With the recent increases in retaliatory tariffs, Turkey has applied $300 million in additional duties on its imports from the U.S., which were worth $1.8 billion last year.

Now, the highest extra duty has been imposed on Turkey’s high alcohol imports and automotive imports from the U.S. by 70 percent and 60 percent, respectively. While Turkey imported nearly $21 million worth high alcoholic beverages from the U.S. last year, its automotive imports were worth $87 million.

They are now followed by make-up products, unprocessed tobacco, plastic materials, synthetic cords and construction materials of iron and steel from the U.S. by 30 percent for each in additional duty. Here, the final rate for unprocessed tobacco imports from the U.S. was hiked from 25 percent, which was declared in the report to the WTO.

Turkey will also impose a 5 percent additional duty on its coal imports from the U.S., which represented its largest import item worth of $325.5 million last year. A 4 percent additional duty will be imposed on petroleum coke product imports from the U.S., which became Turkey’s second largest import item in the U.S. market with $291.6 million in 2017. The previously reported additional duty for the latter was 5 percent.

Dried nuts and fruits were Turkey’s third largest import item in this market, worth $157.4 million. A 10 percent additional duty will now be imposed on these products, while the previous rate was 5 percent.