Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan took aim at US President Donald Trump over Turkey’s currency crisis today, in a clear break with his government’s earlier policy of keeping the American leader out of tensions with the United States.
Trump announced Aug. 10 via Twitter that the United States would be doubling steel and aluminum tariffs for Turkey “as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly against our very strong Dollar!” Erdogan said in response, “You might be the president. But you can’t out of the blue say, ‘I’ve imposed this and that tariff on steel and aluminum.’” Speaking at a gathering of Turkish ambassadors, Erdogan, suggested that Trump, not Turkey, stood to lose: “On the one hand you are a strategic partner; on the other you shoot yourself in the foot.”
Erdogan showed no signs of backing down from the crisis triggered by Turkey's continued detention of North Carolina pastor Andrew Brunson. He asserted that Turkey was “under siege” by “global bullies” eyeing Turkey’s hard-fought gains. “Turkey is too big and influential a country to be condemned to a single axis. With this in mind, we are seeking to deepen our ties with BRICS, the African Union and ASEAN-style regional groupings,” he said, referring to Brazil, Russia, India and China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
ln a bid to stem the lira's hemorrhaging, the Central Bank pledged Aug. 13 to provide “all the liquidity the banks need.” Reuters reported that the Central Bank would meet banks’ lira liquidity needs at an overnight rate of 19.25%. Reuters quoted bankers as saying it could be a first step toward tightening monetary policy by using an interest rate corridor.
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