Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Tuesday that his country will boycott US electronic goods. According to the politician, it is important to keep a firm political stance amid the diplomatic row with the US and a considerable slide in the lira, which lost about 20% of its value last month due to the escalating crisis.
"There is an economic attack against Turkey. Previously, such things were done more secretly and now they are coming at us openly. We can do two things, economically and politically. From an economic position, we take actions, our Finance Ministry and Treasury are working day and night. In addition, we will boycott electronic goods from the United States. They have iPhone but on the other hand there is Samsung. We have the local brand Venus Vestel, we will use them," he said.
Erdogan, addressing the situation, has warned the US that Turkey might "look for new friends and allies" due to Washington's disrespect towards his country. He also noted that Trump's decision on tariffs was against the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
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The US previously introduced sanctions against members of the Turkish government, citing the detention of Evangelical missionary Andrew Brunson, who was suspected of having ties to the movement of Fethullah Gulen who is in turn accused of planning the 2016 failed military coup in Turkey.