Turkey: 25% Additional Tariff Will Be Imposed Upon Imported Hand Tools

According to the Bureau of Foreign Trade of Ministry of Economic Affairs (Taiwan), Turkey announced on Feb. 26th 2015 that it will impose an additional 25% tariff on imported hand tools.

Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade pointed that those hand tools which will be subject to a 25% tariff in Turkey belong to the unbound tariff lines of Turkey under the framework of WTO, as a result, the increase in tariff this time does not violate the tariff exemption promise of WTO and member states of WTO cannot request for compensation through WTO.

Scissors, wrenches, and screwdrivers are all hand tools and the total value of products influenced by the tariff is about USD10 million to 20 million. Although these items are not the major exported products of Taiwan, however, this shows that Turkey has been gradually building its own trade barriers against imported products. Turkey imposes additional tariffs on products including hand tools to hold back the domestic demand and foreign supply, in order to reduce its trade deficits. The Turkish government hopes to encourage more foreign investors to set up their factories in Turkey through these measures and solve the problem of high unemployment rate at the same time. Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade will also express its concern over this measure to the Turkish government.