Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spoken out in favour of wider use of national currencies in trading with other countries, speaking at the Economic and Trade Cooperation Committee of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul.
"The use of the own currency in mutual payments is crucially important. There is no other way but to make use of our own national currencies. Otherwise we will continue to be under pressure from currency rates," Sputnik cited the Turkish leader as saying,
Erdogan stressed that as soon as the U.S. increased customs duties, "the whole world started to search for some defence mechanisms."
In March, Washington imposed 25% tariffs on steel imports and 10% on aluminium imports, initially exempting an array of countries from the new regulation. However, since 1 June, the decision has been in effect with regard to all the states, including the European Union, Mexico and Canada.
On 10 August, U.S. President Donald Trump separately authorized the doubling of steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey, up to 50 and 20%, respectively, which led to the Turkish lira falling to a historic low.
