The United States will not lift tariffs on steel from Turkey even if Ankara intends to free the US pastor, accused of conspiracy and terrorism during the failed 2016 coup. In the meantime, Qatar has promised 15 billion dollars of investment in Turkey. to support the revival of the Turkish lira.
The opening position of the White House in the past few months was viewed favorably by the Turkish authorities who had decided to release Andrew Brunson, the American pastor on trial in Turkey.
However, the differences between the US and Turkey have grown day by day and concern the divergent position in Syria and Ankara's ambition to buy Russian defense systems (S 400).
The Turkish Lira was affected by Erdogan's foreign policy and lost around 40% against the dollar during the year. Investors fear Erdogan's growing hold on the economy, as evidenced by repeated calls for lower interest rates despite high inflation. The dispute with the US helped increase the currency's decline, hitting an all-time low of 7,24 per dollar earlier Monday, unnerving global equity markets.
President Donald Trump then doubled tariffs on Turkish metal exports to the United States and Turkey, in response, he raised tariffs on US cars, alcohol and tobacco.
In fact, an Erdogan decree doubled Turkish tariffs on imports of US cars to 120%, alcoholic beverages to 140% and leaf tobacco to 60%. The rates were also doubled on goods such as cosmetics, rice and coal.
White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders made it clear that the US was planning to remove the steel tariffs if Brunson was released. The United States then condemned Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, accusing them of being responsible for Brunson's arrest and detention.
Optimism came after a Turkish court released two Greek soldiers awaiting trial. Cavusoglu said that the ties with the European Community are quite solid.
Ankara's economic and financial measures
"They are now eliminating lira liquidity from the system and pushing interest rates higher," said Cristian Maggio, head of emerging markets strategy at TD Securities.
“Rates have gone up by 10%. The central bank has not done this through a change in the reference rates, but it is compressing liquidity, so the result is the same ”. The lira stood at 5,75 against the dollar on Wednesday and stood at 5,90 last night.
The Turkish finance minister will soon try to reassure international investors in a conference call.
Akbank's chief executive in Turkey said the banking sector remained strong and the measures taken to support the market began to have a major impact, adding that there has been no withdrawal of deposits.
Returning to the Brunson case, the court in Izmir, where the pastor is on trial, rejected his appeal to be released from house arrest.