Aegean Textile Exporters Chart New Path in US Market

New U.S. tariffs place Turkey in a more advantageous position than its competitors, while the textile sector in the Aegean region aims to grow in the U.S. market through the Turquality project and the "Distant Countries Strategy." Chairman Jak Eskinazi stressed optimism for 2025 despite exchange rate and financing challenges.

Jak Eskinazi, Coordinator Chairman of Aegean Exporters Associations and Chairman of the Aegean Textile and Raw Materials Exporters Association, said: "Recent developments demonstrate how timely our Turquality promotion project has been, launched with the participation of all relevant unions through the Textile Sector Board to increase our exports to the U.S. and promote our sector. U.S. President Donald Trump announced new additional tariffs to be applied to many countries, primarily China and Vietnam.

Turkey is among the countries to which 10% tariffs will be applied. In U.S. tariffs, our country is in the group of countries with the lowest additional tariff applied. Due to higher tariff rates applied to competitor countries, we will need to capitalize on our advantageous position in the coming periods by intensifying our trade activities toward the U.S. and moving forward with the right roadmap in the new trade order created by these tariffs."

Turkey's "Distant Countries Strategy"
Chairman Eskinazi said: "The statements by our Trade Minister Ömer Bolat also indicate positive developments for our sector. As Turkey, alongside comprehensive action plans such as the 'Distant Countries Strategy' that includes the U.S., we will begin to implement preparations for various sectors including textiles, ready-made clothing, and machinery. As a result of these implementations, opportunities will emerge for further liberalization of trade between Turkey and the U.S. I believe we will see positive results from these assessments made specifically about our sector. We also evaluated how the U.S.'s new additional tariffs affect our sector on a sub-product group basis. For example, while the tariff rate on silk fiber and yarn or flax and hemp fiber and yarns was 0, with the new application 10% tariff will be applied when sending to the U.S. Or, for instance, bed sheets currently have tariffs between 2.5% and 20.9%, and an additional 10% tariff will be added."

The initially added 10% additional tariff may appear negative, but we are in a more advantageous position
Jak Eskinazi said: "The initially added 10% additional tariff may appear negative, but when evaluated against the tariff rates applied to our competitors, we can see we are in a more advantageous position. For example, Pakistan, which currently has a 15% tariff, will face an additional 29% tariff, while India, which currently has a 15% tariff, will face an additional 26% tariff. The same applies to ready-made clothing. For example, for knitted cotton T-shirts, the current tariff the U.S. applies to Turkey is 16.5%, or for cotton men's denim pants it is 16.6%, with an additional 10% tariff. However, our competitors' tariff rates are different. For example, China currently has 50% tariff, and with the additional tariff, the total reaches 84%. Bangladesh currently has 15%, and with the additional tariff, the total is 52%. Vietnam currently has 15%, and the total is 61%. Another issue is that, as you know, exporters are going through difficult times due to increased costs resulting from exchange rates not rising at the rate of inflation."

Despite recent increases in exchange rates, inflation has decreased
Chairman Eskinazi said: "We have submitted many views to our Ministry of Treasury and Finance on this matter, but as you know, due to the view that 'if exchange rates increase, inflation increases,' the expected solution was not obtained. However, despite recent increases in exchange rates, inflation has decreased. As I have stated everywhere, Turkey has become 40-50 percent more expensive than its competitors. As exporters, while we have been hit by inflation and exchange rate losses, we experienced major difficulties in accessing financing in 2024. We anticipate 2025 will not be easy, but we will continue our efforts with the hope that new developments and new positions we will take will make it a better year."

Following the General Assembly, Prof. Dr. Yaşar UYSAL made a presentation on "Developments and Expectations in the World and Turkish Economy."