TTIP and EU-Turkish Economic Relations: Deepening the Customs Union

GTE Policy Brief (Istituto Affari Internazionali) No. 21, March 2015

Kamil Yılmaz *

This policy brief focuses on the future of Turkish-EU economic relations in face of the initiation of US-EU negotiations on TTIP. Even though the Turkish government declared its willingness to be part of the negotiation process, Turkey’s best policy action at the moment is to negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with the US. At the same time, both Turkey and the EU have substantial interest in deepening and widening the existing Customs Union rather than abandoning it, with both sides having invested so much into it for almost two decades. While there is economic rationale for the US and EU to be more sympathetic towards Turkish demands, the increasingly authoritarian rule of the AKP government and the existing political tensions between Turkey and its close allies so far have proved to be formidable obstacles to mutually beneficial deals on the economic front.

* Kamil Yılmaz is Professor of Economics a Koç University, Istanbul.

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