Report: Turkey stopped trade relations with Israel; Minister Katz: “Erdogan is harming the interests of his people”

Without an official announcement, Turkey freezes the economic relationship with Israel, while blocking its ports for the import and export of ships to and from Israel. According to the Export Institute, the total trade last year between the countries was 6.6 billion dollars, most of which was imports (5.1 billion). According to media reports, the Turkish customs systems removed Israel from the list of countries.

Foreign Minister Israel Katz (Likud) responded to the trade blockade on Twitter and said that “Erdogan is trampling on the interests of the Turkish people” and that the measure constitutes a violation of agreements between the countries and that “this is how a dictator behaves”. The minister also said that Israel will look for alternatives to trade with Turkey and turn to her friends in the world to harm the Turkish economy.

.@RTErdogan is breaking agreements by blocking ports for Israeli imports and exports. This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements. I have instructed the Director General of the…

— Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) May 2, 2024

3 weeks ago the President of Turkey Recep Erdogan announced the restriction of the export to Israel of dozens of products and now he is making his policy worse. About two weeks ago, Erdogan made a speech and stated in his speech that Hamas is not a terrorist organization but a resistance organization, when the crowd chanted “death to Israel”.

Until 2022, the trend of trade between the countries was almost always an increase from year to year without the influence of the political situation, when last year there was already a 33% decrease in exports and 25% in imports. Israel exports mainly chemical and plastic products to Turkey. The most prominent sectors in imports are concrete products, iron, steel, vehicles and plastic.

A significant victim of the trade blockade is the construction and infrastructure industry in Israel, which also suffers from a lack of workers since the war of iron swords began. Quickly finding alternatives to Turkey as a supplier of goods could make imports to Israel more expensive.

The President of the Federation of Manufacturers and Chairman of the Presidency of Employers and Businesses in Israel, Dr. Ron Tomer said in response to the report that Turkey would stop trade with Israel that “for a month and a half we in the Federation of Manufacturers have been warning that this is the direction and now Erdogan is coming to a full stop – an embargo on Israel”.

Dr. Tomer added that “Unfortunately, Israel is behaving in the ‘battered woman’ syndrome – at first it denies it, then says it was an accident, then ‘gets away with it,’ and the truth finally explodes in front of our faces.” Tomer demands that a protective tariff be imposed on all imports from Turkey 100% for 3 years.