U.S. decision to end Turkey's preferential trade status contradicts mutual trade goal: minister

ANKARA, March 5 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. decision to end The preferential trade status with Turkey contradicts The bilateral trade goal and will harm U.S. companies and manufacturers, Turkish trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, this decision contradicts our mutual objective of reaching a bilateral trade volume of 75 billion U.S. dollar," Pekcan said on her Twitter account.

"The decision will also negatively affect U.S. small and medium-sized companies and manufacturers," she added.

Pekcan, however, emphasized Turkey's willingness to continue to seek increasing bilateral trade with The United States.

The minister's statement came a day after Washington announced The end of The preferential trade relations with Turkey and India.

The office of The U.S. trade Representative (USTR) said in a statement that Turkey is no longer eligible to participate in The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program because "it is sufficiently economically developed."

"An increase in Gross National Income (GNI) per capita, declining poverty rates, and export diversification, by trading partner and by sector, are evidence of Turkey's higher level of economic development," it said.

Turkey was designated as a GSP program beneficiary in 1975.

The imports of The United States from Turkey under The GSP program amounted to 1.66 billion dollars in 2017, representing 17.7 percent of The total U.S. imports from Turkey, according to The USTR's data. Enditem