Trump Vows to Double Metals Tariffs on Turkey as Dispute Escalates Over Detained American
August 10 2018 - 9:41AM
Dow Jones News
By Rebecca Ballhaus
President Trump said Friday he would double steel and aluminum
tariffs on Turkey, more than a week after he imposed sanctions
against two top Turkish officials over the country's refusal to
free an American pastor held for nearly two years.
Mr. Trump in a tweet said the U.S. would impose aluminum tariffs
of 20% and steel tariffs of 50% on Turkey.
"Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!" he wrote
on Twitter Friday morning.
The Treasury Department last week moved to prevent Americans
from doing business with Turkey's ministers of justice and
interior, both of whom the U.S. accused of "serious human rights
abuses" for their roles in detaining Pastor Andrew Brunson, a
50-year-old North Carolina native who was arrested three months
after a failed July 2016 military coup.
Turkish officials have accused Mr. Brunson of aiding the group
accused of orchestrating the coup and another Kurdish separatist
movement, charges that the American pastor and U.S. officials have
denied.
Mr. Brunson's allies accused Turkey of holding the pastor as a
political bargaining chip, and his case has become a cause célèbre
among evangelical Christian groups.
Write to Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 10, 2018 09:26 ET (13:26 GMT)
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