Uluslararası Hukuk ve Sosyal Bilim Araştırmaları Dergisi

Abstract

Consumption of steel products, one of the main inputs of industrial production, is in parallel with the development level of countries. The steel products used in many industrial sectors such as construction, automotive, white goods, energy, machinery, etc. are the main inputs, and therefore are among the strategic sectors economically. In the 21st century, liquid steel production shows a downward trend in developed countries, while it is on an increasing trend in developing countries. Developed countries, especially the EU and the USA, also resort to trade policy measures to prevent this decline in their production and to protect their domestic markets. Thus, while controlling steel imports, they expect to maintain or improve the current situation in terms of production. As a matter of fact, one of the sectors where protectionist measures are applied the most in the world is the steel sector. Tax and/or quota applications come to the fore within the scope of protectionist measures. Turkey is among the important countries of the world in liquid steel production and steel exports and is frequently exposed to these measures. While the USA has been the country with the highest steel exports from Turkey in the past years between 2015 and 2020, Turkey's steel exports to the USA have come to a standstill during this period due to the doubling of the 25% tax under Section 232 applied by the US government against Turkey in recent years. Following the removal of the additional 25% tax for Turkey, figures of Turkey’s export to USA entered a normalization process, but has not yet reached the pre-tax levels. On the other hand, Turkey's exports to the EU have been restricted due to the quotas applied in this region and this situation has reflected negatively in the statistics. The Turkish steel industry has been able to achieve the market diversification in this period. The shrinkage in the US and EU markets, which are considered Turkey's traditional markets with important weight in Turkey's exports, has been tried to be compensated through Southeast Asia, West Africa and Latin America, which are seen as alternative markets. In this study, Turkey's steel exports between 2015-2020 are examined, and the effects of US and EU's trade policy measures on production, exports and imports in their domestic markets are analyzed.