SMM8, Feb. 6 / PRNewswire-FirstCall-Asianet / the Trump administration assessed Turkey's duty-free access to the U. S. market under the Generalized system of preferences on Friday. Earlier, the Turkish government imposed retaliatory tariffs on US steel and aluminum products. The review could affect $1.66 billion of Turkish imports from the United States last year, including cars, parts, jewelry, precious metals and stone products, the U.S. Trade Representative's office said.

A spokeswoman for the Office of the United States Trade Representative said the review was related to Andrew Brucson (Andrew Brunson). Brucson, an American pastor, was tried in Turkey for supporting Turkey's coup two years ago. These events have recently caused relations between the United States and Turkey to fall to their lowest level in decades. The announcement by the US Trade Representative's office comes hours after US Secretary of State Pompey and Turkish Foreign Minister Kamuglu made new commitments to try to resolve differences between the two NATO allies.

A spokesman for the Office of the United States Trade Representative said the review "focused on the Turkish government's compliance with GSP market access standards because of the Turkish government's recent imposition of unfair and improper tariffs on American goods entering Turkey." In retaliation for US tariffs on steel and aluminium issued in March, Turkey imposed import tariffs on $1.78 billion worth of US products, including coal, paper, nuts, whiskey, cars, machinery and petrochemicals. The Trump administration believes such retaliation is illegal under the World Trade Organization's (WTO) rules and challenges such retaliatory tariffs imposed by Turkey, China, the European Union, Canada and Mexico. At the same time, the Office of the United States Trade Representative believes that tariffs on steel and aluminium in the United States are reasonable because they are imposed on national security grounds.

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