Ugur Dalbeler, executive board member of the Turkish Steel Exporters’ Association and general director of Turkish steelmaker Colakoglu Metalurji, has talked to local Turkish news channel Bloomberg HT about the US Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross’ visit to Turkey. He statedthat with the exemption granted to South Korea, Argentina, Australia and Brazil, 70 percent of the overall steel imports of US is within the scope of exemptions and that the same exemption could also be granted to Turkey. “I do not believe that this requires extensive work. We have always been requesting for US to show a more fair approach to Turkey during investigation procedures. Our Ministry of Commerce has also been closely in touch with the US authorities on this situation and we started receiving positive approach from US on this matter. I am optimistic about this subject,” Mr. Dalbeler said.
However, Secretary Ross stated that the countries to which exemption has been granted have accepted the implementation of very strict quotas, therefore US did not provide privilege to any country regarding duties, while the US received over 1,000 exemption applications from Turkish steel and aluminum companies, 40 percent of which has been approved by the US authorities.