Trump Vows to Double Metals Tariffs on Turkey--Update
August 10 2018 - 9:43AM
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.
During high-level talks in Washington this week, U.S. and
Turkish officials were unable to break through the impasse that has
pushed Turkey's economy into turmoil, U.S. officials said. Turkey's
currency has plunged amid the crisis amid fears that the U.S. could
take tougher steps before the standoff is resolved.
Mr. Brunson's fate has become the most polarizing issue dividing
the U.S. and Turkey, two North Atlantic Treaty Organization members
that have repeatedly clashed over Washington's policy in the Middle
East.
Write to Rebecca Ballhaus at Rebecca.Ballhaus@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 10, 2018 09:28 ET (13:28 GMT)
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