‘U.S. Relations With Turkey Are Not Good at this Time’
U.S. tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum caused the lira to slide. But ties between Washington and Ankara have been strained for a while.
President Donald Trump announced Friday that he had ordered the doubling of tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum imports, exacerbating relations with a NATO ally that has proven intransigent in recent years.
“I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar!” Trump said on Twitter. “Aluminum will now be 20% and Steel 50%. Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!”
One could argue they haven’t been “good” for some time. Özgür Ünlühisarcikli, an expert on transatlantic relations with the German Marshall Fund in Ankara, said Trump’s tariffs are “very bad
