TURKEY AND UK SIGN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT

30.12.2020

The UK and Turkey have signed free trade agreement effective as of 1 January 2021. The agreement is to ensure that the existing flow of goods will not be affected when the UK formally leaves the EU at the end of the year.

Trade between London and Ankara was worth £18.6bn in 2019, and the UK is Turkey’s second-biggest export market, mostly for precious metals, vehicles, textiles and electrical equipment. While Turkey is not an EU member, it does have a customs union with the EU, meaning that the new UK-Turkey deal could not be struck until after the Brexit deal was finalised.

According to the Department for International Trade in the UK, the new deal will secure existing preferential tariffs for 7,600 UK businesses exporting machinery, iron and steel to Turkey, and protect automotive and manufacturing supply chains. It is stated that about 75% of Turkish exports to the UK would cause taxes valued around $ 2.4 billion without the new agreement.

The deal with Turkey is the fifth-biggest free trade agreement the UK has negotiated after deals with Japan, Canada, Switzerland and Norway.

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Zumbul Attorneys-at-Law

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