Turkish Minister of Treasury and Finance Mehmet Simsek said on Tuesday that the market uncertainty caused by United States President Donald Trump's tariffs will potentially help Turkey outperform some of the other global markets.
"All of this is relatively constructive. When the dust settles, we hope and believe Turkey could positively decouple in investors' eyes from more troubled emerging economies in Asia and elsewhere," Simsek told the Financial Times in an interview, adding that the Turkish economy is relatively protected from Trump's tariffs, with 80% of the country's trade being with countries with which it has a free trade agreement.
Simsek noted that there was a "large but brief impact from domestic political-driven turbulence," pointing to the arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. However, he said that now the uncertainty is tariff-driven and that Turkey's "vulnerability is not so bad," even if it has to "live with softer growth."
