On Sunday, June 16, the Israeli government will consider the initiative of Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to introduce prohibitive duties on the import of Turkish products.
Smotrich’s initiative provides for the approval of a temporary resolution, valid until the end of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s term in power, within the framework of which all preferential tax rates provided for in the free trade agreement between Israel and Turkey will be canceled, as well as the introduction of an additional duty of 100% of the cost imported goods. In fact, we are talking about a complete blocking of imports of Turkish products.
Let us recall that in May of this year, Turkey introduced a ban on the direct export of its products to Israel and Israeli products to Turkey. Shortly thereafter, the ban was relaxed and existing products were excluded.
However, trade between the two countries continued through the ports of Greece and Bulgaria. The introduction of duties, as opposed to a ban on direct import/export, will put an end to trade turnover.