The decision taken by U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday to double tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminum imports is regarded as economically senseless for the U.S. and is seen as a move against one of the U.S.’ longtime allies and NATO members.
The doubling of tariffs on Turkey comes at a time when the value of the U.S. dollar has seen huge rises against the Turkish lira and when American manufacturers would have been best positioned to import steel and aluminum from Turkey, but now this looks unlikely.
The U.S. was the top destination for Turkish steel exports worth $1.1 billion in 2017.
Turkey ranked as the sixth-biggest steel exporter to the U.S. as of 2017 with a 7 percent share of steel imports.
Turkey’s total steel exports were valued at $11.5 billion last year, and accounted for 7.3 percent of its total exports worth $157 billion, according to the Turkish Steel Exporters’ Association.
Moreover, Turkey has been a member of NATO since its foundation and has acted as a strong and close U.S. ally for more than 60 years.
Since last year, Trump has been critical of NATO. He slammed the organization and its members in Brussels last month and asked that other NATO members pay their fair share of the defense budget alleviating what he considers is the U.S.’ shouldering of most of the organization’s financial burden.
Regardless, Turkey has demonstrated its strong commitment to NATO as a founding member and has been supportive of the U.S after the September 11 terrorist attacks by sending troops to Afghanistan.
Turkey is not a lone target, as Trump is already embroiled in a trade war with its biggest competitor China, and its close allies and neighbors, Canada and Mexico. And although the U.S. has applied sanctions on Russia, Trump has also taken an unconventional stance of support against its traditional rival by once again declaring his opinion that Russia did not meddle in the U.S. election at the U.S.-Russia summit in Helsinki on July 16 – a move that irked the U.S.' intelligence agencies. The Trump administration’s decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal has also put the administration at odds with the EU, which supports preserving and remaining in the deal.
Many increasingly view the U.S. as becoming more isolated in the international political and economic arena that it once led and in which it tried hard over decades to maintain and develop.
The U.S.' multilateral relations are diminishing one by one on economic and political fronts, with trade wars and withdrawals from historic deals such as The Paris Climate Change Agreement and the Iran nuclear deal.
Instead, Trump’s modus operandi is to focus more on bilateral relations to get what he wants by using economic threats as a foreign policy tool.
These trade wars and tariffs are anticipated to hurt American manufacturers and consumers in the short- to medium-term, and eventually the American economy in the long run.
It remains to be seen whether the global economic ties and political system that the U.S. has founded and led will dissolve under the Trump administration.