On May 19, 2019, President Trump signed Proclamation 9893 of May 19, 2019 on Adjusting Imports of Aluminum into the United States (published in the Federal Register on May 23, 2019) and Proclamation 9894 of May 19, 2019 on Adjusting Imports of Steel into the United States (published in the Federal Registeron May 21, 2019), which remove the 10% duties on aluminum and 25% duties on steel for goods originating in Canada and Mexico, while…
On May 16, 2019, President Trump signed a Proclamation on Adjusting Imports of Steel into the United States, which removes the higher 50 percent ad valorem tariff on steel imports from Turkey imposed by Proclamation 9772, and to instead imposes a 25 percent ad valorem tariff on steel imports from Turkey, commensurate with the tariff imposed on such articles imported from most countries. The Proclamation: Modifies subchapter III of chapter 99 of the HTSUS as…
On May 16, 2019, President Trump signed a Proclamation to Modify the List of Beneficiary Developing Countries Under the Trade Act of 1974. The Proclamation states that the President has determined that, based on its level of economic development, it is appropriate to terminate Turkey’s designation as a beneficiary developing country effective May 17, 2019. The Proclamation: (1) Terminates the designation of Turkey as a beneficiary developing country, effective May 17, 2019. (2) Modifies general…
On March 4, 2019, the US Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer announced (at the direction of President Trump) that the United States intends to terminate India’s and Turkey’s designations as beneficiary developing countries under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program because they no longer comply with the statutory eligibility criteria.
On 21 February, 2019, the Department for International Trade (DIT) issued guidance entitled, Existing trade agreements if the UK leaves the EU without a deal, which sets out the status of those agreements (free trade agreements, economic partnership agreements, association agreements and customs union) that may not be in place by exit day. It also links to trade agreements that have been signed and mutual recognition agreements that have been signed.
Recent Development
The Ministry of Treasury and Finance published the Communiqué No. 2018-32/48 on the Decree No. 32 on the Protection of the Value of Turkish Currency (“Communiqué“), introducing an obligation for Turkish resident exporters to bring export proceeds into Turkey.
On August 16, 2018, the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) published in the Federal Register an announcement of the initiation of a country practice review of the eligibility of Turkey for benefits under the GSP program and notice of a public hearing and request for comments [Docket No. USTR-2018-0031]. This review will focus on whether Turkey is meeting the GSP eligibility criterion that requires a GSP beneficiary country to assure the United States that it will provide equitable and reasonable access to its market. This notice includes the schedule for submission of public comments and a public hearing.
Following the recent developments, the Decision 21 of the President of the Republic of Turkey regarding added tariffs on imports of certain products originating from the United States was published in the Resmi Gazete (Official Gazette) dated August 15, 2018, No. 30510 (“Decision”).
The Decision calls for added tariffs on 22 separate categories of items originating from the US. The additional tariffs range from 4% to 140% for automobiles.
On August 10, 2018, President Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation Adjusting Imports of Steel Into the United States, which increases the section 232 tariffs on Turkish Steel to 50%. In the proclamation, it is stated that
In the [Commerce] Secretary’s January 2018 report, the Secretary recommended that I consider applying a higher tariff to a list of specific countries should I determine that all countries should not be subject to the same tariff. One of the countries on that list was the Republic of Turkey (Turkey). As the Secretary explained in that report, Turkey is among the major exporters of steel to the United States for domestic consumption. To further reduce imports of steel articles and increase domestic capacity utilization, I have determined that it is necessary and appropriate to impose a 50 percent ad valorem tariff on steel articles imported from Turkey, beginning on August 13, 2018. The Secretary has advised me that this adjustment will be a significant step toward ensuring the viability of the domestic steel industry.
On August 3, 2018, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that it is reviewing the eligibility of Turkey to participate in the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program based on concerns related to its compliance with the GSP market access criterion. The announcement said: