Turkish Steel Exporters Demand Compensation for Trump Tariffs

Daily Sabah reported that the Turkish Steel Exporters Association CIB said that US President Donald Trump's arbitrary additional tax of 25% on steel imports from Turkey caused great harm to Turkish exporters and exporters are demanding their losses to be covered. CIB chairperson Mr. Adnan Aslan said "Our exporters suffered losses due to Trump's arbitrary additional tax of 25%. We will demand that the loss was covered. They have been dealing with this case of two years and that justice is finally about to be achieved."

Not that the court decision is a reference point in terms of the lifting of unfair practices against the Turkish steel industry, Mr. Aslan said "We continue the same struggle with the EU. While we were exporting 8.5 million tons of steel to the countries of the region in 2018. This figure has decreased to 5 million tons today."

The US Court of International Trade said in its ruling that Mr. Trump's decision to double tariffs on imports of Turkish steel, which came amid a diplomatic spat between Ankara and Washington in 2018, violated the law.

The US president then announced in August he was doubling the Section 232 tariffs to 50% on steel from Turkey amid tensions in a since-freed American pastor, Andrew Brunson, who was detained in Turkey on charges of links to the PKK and Giilenist Terror Group. The higher tariffs remained in place until May 21 last year, when Trump reduced them back to 25% in what he said at the time were necessary import reductions.