Turkey slams US plan to end special trade status
Iran Press TV
Tue Mar 5, 2019 03:12PM
Ankara has blasted the United States for its decision to scrap the preferential trade status granted to Turkey, saying Washington's plan is contrary to mutual trade goals.
"This decision contradicts our mutual objective of reaching bilateral trade volume of $75 billion...The decision will also negatively affect US small and medium-sized enterprises and manufacturers," Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan tweeted on Tuesday.
"We still would like to pursue our target of increasing our bilateral trade with the US, who we see as our strategic partner, without losing any momentum," she added.
A day earlier, the US Trade Representative's Office (USTR) had said Washington sought to terminate Turkey and India's designations as "beneficiary developing countries under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program" because they no longer met the program's eligibility criteria.
Established in 1974 and having covered 120 countries, the GSP is the largest and oldest US trade preference program. It allows "certain products" to enter the US free of tariffs, given that the countries exporting them meet the criteria such as "providing the US with equitable and reasonable market access."
The statement said Turkey could be "graduated" from the program on the back of "sufficient economical development."
Last August, however, the USTR had said it was reviewing Turkey's eligibility under the GSP after Ankara imposed tariffs on US goods.
Ankara had levied the duties in response to American tariffs on Turkish-supplied steel and aluminum at the height of bilateral tensions under US President Donald Trump.
The escalation was caused by Washington's support for Kurdish militants, which Ankara calls terrorists, and Turkey's subsequent imprisonment of an American pastor.
The two sides are separately at odds over Washington's refusal to extradite Fetullah Gulen, a Pennsylvania-based cleric accused of masterminding an abortive 2016 coup against the Turkish government.
The situation was not defused despite Turkey's release of the pastor, whom it had detained over alleged links to anti-Ankara outfits.
In the case of India, meanwhile, the USTR claimed New Delhi had failed to provide guarantees that it would allow the amount of market access required for by the GSP program.
The USTR also said the country had "implemented a wide array of trade barriers that create serious negative effects on US commerce."
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