US Secretary of Commerce explains road map and trade objectives with Turkey
Wilbur ROSS (US Secretary of Commerce) who has paid a visit to Turkey has made some important statements regarding the trade relations between Turkey and the USA. Mr. Ross has said, “There are many small companies in Turkey and they need to become larger to be able to compete. Turkish companies do not know the US market and we need to help”.
US Commerce Secretary who paid a 5 day visit Turkey made several contacts with Turkish officials, President ERDOGAN and reps from the business world. Before leaving Turkey Mr. ROSS made important statements on TV channels explaining their road map and trade objectives concerning Turkey.
He explained that there were detailed roadmaps for every sector regarding the US$ 100 billion trade target for both countries consisting of 2 separate 50 billion pieces for either country, namely 50 billion exports from Turkey to the USA and the other way round.
This may seem a large amount compared with the current volume of trade, but when you compare this target with the trade volume on the goods and services side of the United States, we are over US$ 5 trillion which means US$ 50 billion equals 1 percent of our economy, and we will focus on textiles, automotive, energy, and furniture. Structural adjustments are necessary to achieve the target as there are many small companies in Turkey and you need to be big to be able to compete. Turkish companies do not know the US market, we need to help. “
Regarding whether the USA would reduce the tax imposed on the steel industry of Turkey Ross said, “The Turkish steel industry is subject to a tax of 50 percent for a while, a duty of punishment nature. I am sure this has caused a decrease in the volume of trade. 25 percent customs duty is universal so in this case it does not cause a different challenge for Turkey. The countries which have reduced tariffs are those that have agreed to abide by very strict quotas. We can take South Korea for instance: They accepted a quota equal to 70 percent of their whole shipments in the period from 2015 to 2017. This means no facilities are granted to any countries as far as tariffs are concerned.
On the other hand however I need to share the following: We have received more than a thousand exemption applications from Turkish companies in the aluminum and steel industry, provided products not manufactured in the US with sufficient quality to meet the needs of the market. We have accepted these applications which correspond to approximately 40 percent of Turkish companies.
