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Turkish President: Investment, Trade Are Priority During Gulf Tour

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Reuters)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Reuters)
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Turkish President: Investment, Trade Are Priority During Gulf Tour

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Reuters)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Reuters)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said discussing joint investments and commercial activities was the priority of his Gulf tour.

In comments before departing Istanbul for Saudi Arabia on Monday, Erdogan noted that the volume of trade exchange between Türkiye and the Gulf countries increased from $1.6 billion to about $22 billion during the last 20 years.

Saudi Arabia is the first leg of his tour that will also take him to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

“Saudi Arabia, which is one of the most important countries in our region, has a special place in areas such as trade, investments, and contracting services... The projects implemented by our contractors in Saudi Arabia during the past 20 years amounted to about $25 billion. We would like Turkish companies to play a greater role in large Saudi projects,” Erdogan stated.

Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said his country would achieve important investment gains during Erdogan’s tour.

In a televised interview, Yilmaz pointed to opportunities for cooperation between Türkiye and the Gulf countries in many fields, such as energy, defense industries and tourism, and in infrastructure projects.

On Thursday, Erdogan said Gulf states had pledged to pump large investments in his country, expressing optimism about the results of the tour.

Nael Olpak, head of the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Council, said more than 200 Turkish businessmen would accompany Erdogan in his Gulf visit.

The Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Council is organizing three business forums in Jeddah, Doha and Abu Dhabi, with Erdogan’s participation.

The Saudi-Turkish Business Forum, which was held in Istanbul on Wednesday, witnessed the signing of 16 cooperation agreements between the Saudi side and Turkish companies. Saudi Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs and Housing Majid bin Abdullah Al-Hogail and Turkish Minister of Trade Omer Bolat attended the forum.

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Trump Exempts Mexico Goods from Tariffs for a Month, but Doesn’t Mention Canada

Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Exempts Mexico Goods from Tariffs for a Month, but Doesn’t Mention Canada

Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)
Construction workers are seen on the site of a new development in Long Beach, California, March 5, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said Mexico won't be required to pay tariffs on any goods that fall under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade until April 2, but made no mention of a reprieve for Canada despite his Commerce secretary saying a comparable exemption was likely.

"After speaking with President Claudia Sheinbaum of Mexico, I have agreed that Mexico will not be required to pay Tariffs on anything that falls under the USMCA Agreement," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "This Agreement is until April 2nd."

Earlier on Thursday, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the one-month reprieve on hefty tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and Canada that has been granted to automotive products is likely to be extended to all products that comply with the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade.

Lutnick told CNBC he expected Trump to announce that extension on Thursday, a day after exempting automotive goods from the 25% tariffs he slapped on imports from Canada and Mexico earlier in the week.

Trump "is going to decide this today," Lutnick said, adding "it's likely that it will cover all USMCA-compliant goods and services."

"So if you think about it this way, if you lived under Donald Trump's US-Mexico-Canada agreement, you will get a reprieve from these tariffs now. If you chose to go outside of that, you did so at your own risk, and today is when that reckoning comes," he said.

Nonetheless, Trump's social media post made no mention of a reprieve for Canada, the other party to the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated during his first term as president.

Lutnick said his "off the cuff" estimate was that more than 50% of the goods imported from the two US neighbors - also its largest two trading partners - were compliant with the USMCA deal that Trump negotiated during his first term as president.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called Lutnick's comments "promising" in remarks to reporters in Canada.

"That aligns with some of the conversations that we have been having with administration officials, but I'm going to wait for an official agreement to talk about Canadian response and look at the details of it," Trudeau said. "But it is a promising sign. But I will highlight that it means that the tariffs remain in place, and therefore our response will remain in place."

Lutnick emphasized that the reprieve would only last until April 2, when he said the administration plans to move ahead with reciprocal tariffs under which the US will impose levies that match those imposed by trading partners.

In the meantime, he said, the current hiatus is about getting fentanyl deaths down, which is the initial justification Trump used for the tariffs on Mexico and Canada and levies on Chinese goods that have now risen to 20%.

"On April 2, we're going to move with the reciprocal tariffs, and hopefully Mexico and Canada will have done a good enough job on fentanyl that this part of the conversation will be off the table, and we'll move just to the reciprocal tariff conversation," Lutnick said. "But if they haven't, this will stay on."

Indeed, Trudeau is expecting the US and Canada to remain in a trade war.

"I can confirm that we will continue to be in a trade war that was launched by the United States for the foreseeable future," he told reporters in Ottawa.