Turkey recently officially stated to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it plans to implement steel import quotas from October 17 to protect the domestic steel industry.

As we all know, earlier this year, the United States doubled the import tariffs imposed on Turkish aluminum and steel by 20% and 50% respectively.

In fact, since March this year, US President Donald Trump has started to impose 10% and 25% aluminum and steel import taxes on US trading partners including Turkey, between Ankara and Washington. The (trade) dispute has been deepening.

In this regard, Turkey claims that these tariffs are unacceptable and promises to take "counterattack" measures.

In addition, the Turkish Ministry of Trade stated that the US's additional tariffs violated WTO regulations.

Specific restrictions: import quotas!

In a document published by the WTO, Ankara said that “these protection policies are unforeseen developments that directly affect the import of products to Turkey.”

The document also states: “Turkey has always been an attractive market for these steel products protected by increasing protection measures. Therefore, measures that have already been applied worldwide, Turkey should also increase imports of related products. limits."

According to the document, the import quota is 3.1 million tons, less than half of Turkey's imports of 8.4 million tons in 2017. The long-term product quota is 558,534 tons, while the 2017 import volume is 1.3 million tons.

The quota for pipelines and pipelines is 273,901 tons, stainless steel is 139,934 tons, and railway materials are 27,044 tons, less than half of the 2017 imports.

However, this quota does not apply to hot rolled stainless steel because it is not produced in Turkey.

Many countries are not satisfied with the US steel aluminum tax!

In fact, according to the First Silver Network, Turkey is not the first country to file a complaint with the WTO regarding US trade policy, including: EU, Canada, China and Russia also (Brune) steel and aluminum import tax Raised a question.

Of course, according to the rules of the WTO, Ankara and Washington now have 60 days to negotiate time to resolve the dispute. If it fails, the WTO may decide on the matter.

According to the Turkish Steel Exporters Association, last year, Turkish steel exports totaled $11.5 billion, accounting for 7.3% of total exports.

At present, the United States is the largest importer of Turkish steel, and Turkey has purchased US steel worth about $1.1 billion.