Turkey on the attack over tariffs, with Erdogan warning Trump Ankara may seek ‘new friends’
Turkish leader advised country to show solidarity by converting gold or foreign currency to lira in a bid to wage a ‘war of independence’ against America
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hit back on Saturday at US “threats” over a detained American pastor which has escalated tensions between the two Nato allies and piled pressure on the Turkish currency.
“It is wrong to dare bring Turkey to its knees through threats over a pastor,” Erdogan told a rally in the Black Sea town of Unye. “I am calling on those in America again. Shame on you, shame on you. You are exchanging your strategic partner in Nato for a priest.”
US President Donald Trump said on Friday he had doubled steel and aluminium tariffs on Turkey, adding to pressure on its troubled economy amid a diplomatic row with Washington.
The Turkish lira tumbled 16 per cent against the dollar on Friday.
Turkey is at loggerheads with the US in one of the worst spats in years over the nearly two-year detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson and a host of other issues. But Erdogan urged Turks not to be panicked by the currency crisis, saying: “If they have the dollar, we have Allah.”