The EU-Turkey Customs Union in the light of TTIP and beyond the economic relations
15 May 2014 | by Nino Japarashvili
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), presently being negotiated between the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), has raised economic concerns for Turkey. This EU candidate country enjoys preferential access to the European market due to the Customs Union (CU) agreed in 1995. However, under the existing terms, countries that sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU have automatic access to the Turkish market, without opening their own markets for Turkish goods. According to the recently published World Bank evaluation of the CU, if the EU and the US remove all tariffs on bilateral trade, but with Turkey continuing to face restrictions in the US market and maintaining tariffs on US imports, the country will face a welfare loss of $130 million (World Bank, 2014).
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