US tariffs on Turkey currently run on two tracks: a 15 percent “reciprocal” duty on most Turkish goods, in effect since August 7, 2025, and a separate 50 percent Section 232 tariff on steel and aluminum that has been in place at that level since June 4, 2025. Both were imposed by executive order under President Donald Trump, and they sit on top of a diplomatic relationship strained by Turkey’s purchase of Russian air defense systems and its outreach to BRICS.
The 15 Percent Reciprocal Tariff
On April 2, 2025, Trump signed Executive Order 14257, declaring persistent US goods trade deficits a national emergency and imposing a 10 percent ad valorem duty on imports from all trading partners, effective April 5.1Federal Register. Regulating Imports With a Reciprocal Tariff To Rectify Trade Practices Higher, country-specific rates were set out in Annex I of the order. Turkey was not on that first list, so Turkish goods initially paid only the 10 percent baseline.2GovInfo. Executive Order 14257, Annex I
That changed a few months later. The administration paused the higher country-specific rates on April 9 to allow negotiations, extended the pause on July 7, and then signed a new order on July 31 titled “Further Modifying the Reciprocal Tariff Rates.” That order added Turkey to Annex I at 15 percent, effective for goods entering the United States on or after August 7, 2025. The administration’s stated reason was that Turkey had either failed to engage in negotiations or had not offered terms that “sufficiently address imbalances in our trading relationship.”3The White House. Further Modifying the Reciprocal Tariff Rates
One enforcement feature matters for anyone routing goods through third countries. If US Customs and Border Protection determines that a shipment was transshipped through another country to evade the reciprocal duty, the goods face an additional 40 percent penalty on top of the ordinary rate.3The White House. Further Modifying the Reciprocal Tariff Rates
Steel and Aluminum at 50 Percent
Metals are handled under a different legal authority and a much higher rate. Steel and aluminum from Turkey are exempt from the reciprocal tariff entirely; they are governed by Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act, which the president uses on national-security grounds.1Federal Register. Regulating Imports With a Reciprocal Tariff To Rectify Trade Practices
The current 50 percent rate is the product of a long back-and-forth. Trump first used Section 232 in March 2018 to impose 25 percent on steel and 10 percent on aluminum from most countries.4U.S. International Trade Commission. Section 232 Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum That August, during a diplomatic crisis over the detention of American pastor Andrew Brunson, he doubled the steel rate on Turkey specifically to 50 percent.5GovInfo. Proclamation 9886 The Turkish lira fell as much as 20 percent against the dollar in a single day.6CNBC. Turkey Crisis: Economy Faces Weak Lira, Inflation, Debt and Tariffs After Turkish steel imports fell 48 percent, the rate was cut back to 25 percent in May 2019.
In February 2025, Trump announced that all steel and aluminum imports would face 25 percent tariffs starting March 12. On May 30, 2025, he raised those tariffs again to 50 percent, effective June 4, bringing Turkish steel back to the punitive level it had reached in 2018.7RVIA. US Announces Tariffs on All Steel and Aluminum Imports So a Turkish steel exporter today pays 50 percent, not 15 percent, because the reciprocal tariff does not touch metals covered by Section 232.
Turkey’s Retaliatory Duties Are Gone
For seven years, US exporters to Turkey faced retaliatory duties that Ankara imposed in response to the 2018 metals tariffs. The list included 70 percent on distilled spirits, 25 percent on rice, 30 percent on unmanufactured tobacco, 10 percent on nuts, 10 percent on certain food preparations, and 5 percent on fuel wood and wood products.8USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. Turkiye Drops Its Retaliatory Tariffs on US Ag Products The spirits duty briefly doubled to 140 percent in August 2018 before being reset to 70 percent in May 2019.9Distilled Spirits Council. DISCUS Statement on the Removal of Turkiye’s Retaliatory Tariff on US Distilled Spirits Cumulative losses to US exporters were estimated at more than $500 million.
Turkey abolished all of these duties on September 22, 2025, three days before a presidential summit.8USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. Turkiye Drops Its Retaliatory Tariffs on US Ag Products The gesture was one-sided; US steel, aluminum, and reciprocal tariffs on Turkey stayed in place.
What the Tariffs Have Done to Trade Flows
Two-way goods trade has kept growing, but the balance has flipped. In 2024, the US ran a $1.2 billion goods deficit with Turkey. In 2025, that became a $3.9 billion surplus: US exports to Turkey rose 32.7 percent to $20.4 billion, while Turkish exports to the US fell 2 percent to $16.4 billion. Total goods and services trade reached $43 billion in 2024, up 8.6 percent from the year before.10Office of the United States Trade Representative. Turkey Census Bureau data for 2026 year-to-date shows $9.2 billion in US exports against $5.3 billion in imports, suggesting the surplus is continuing.11U.S. Census Bureau. Trade in Goods With Turkey The data alone does not isolate tariffs from currency movements and other factors, but the direction lines up with the tariff escalation.
Inside Turkey, the pressure is showing up in prices. Inflation stood at 38.1 percent in March 2025, and the Central Bank of Turkey warned that the 10 percent US baseline tariff posed a “considerable upside risk” to inflation.12Euronews. Inflation Eases in Turkey Although Trump Tariffs Pose Economic Risks By November 2025, annual inflation had eased to 31.1 percent, with GDP growth forecast at 3.8 percent for the year.13ING. Monitoring Turkey: Continuing Upside Risks to Inflation Outlook
Why the Rates Sit Where They Do
The reciprocal tariff order pointed to specific asymmetries in Turkish trade policy. Turkey follows the EU’s Common External Tariff on industrial products under the 1995 EU-Turkey Customs Union, but it sets its own agricultural rates, which average 41.7 percent compared with the EU’s 13.9 percent.14International Trade Administration. Turkey Trade Barriers15Chatham House. EU-Turkey Customs Union The April 2025 executive order cited Turkey’s 31 percent tariff on rice and 60.3 percent on apples as examples.1Federal Register. Regulating Imports With a Reciprocal Tariff To Rectify Trade Practices Turkey also applies a standard 20 percent VAT on most imports and a Special Consumption Tax that can reach 220 percent on certain vehicles and luxury goods.16International Trade Administration. Turkey Import Tariffs A January 2026 US country commercial guide added that Turkey “often fails to notify the WTO of changes to import requirements” and flagged burdensome documentation, non-science-based agricultural restrictions, and opaque procurement.
Diplomacy shapes the metals side more than the reciprocal side. The two countries are NATO allies; Turkey fields the alliance’s second-largest military and hosts US forces at Incirlik Air Base. But Ankara’s 2019 purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system triggered US sanctions under CAATSA in December 2020 and removed Turkey from the F-35 fighter program, and those sanctions remain in effect.17Congressional Research Service. Turkey: Background and US Relations The Trump administration has explored a workaround in which Turkey would declare the S-400 “inoperable” by removing a key component, though critics say the step is easily reversible.18American Enterprise Institute. Turkey to Declare S-400 Inoperable to Gain F-35 Stealth Fighter Deal Any CAATSA waiver requires a presidential certification to Congress and a 30-day review window, and a bipartisan group led by Representative Dina Titus has been drafting a resolution to block an F-35 sale that skirts existing legal requirements.19Turkish Minute. US Lawmakers Prepare Resolution to Block Turkey’s F-35 Return
Ankara has responded partly by hedging. President Erdoğan attended a BRICS outreach session at the October 2024 summit in Kazan, Russia, and Turkey has expressed interest in joining the group, whose members China and Russia are each roughly $50 billion trading partners. Turkish officials describe the interest as economic and say it does not conflict with NATO commitments.20Taylor and Francis. Turkey and BRICS
For an importer, the operative facts are the ones on the customs form: 15 percent on most Turkish goods, 50 percent on Turkish steel and aluminum, and a 40 percent add-on if the shipment is found to have been routed through a third country to dodge the duty.