Washington should lift the barriers in order to reach a goal of $100 billion in trade with Turkey, Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan said at a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross on Tuesday.
"We hope that investment and trade between the two countries will be the main discussion topic at the Erdoğan and Trump meeting," she added.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump will meet during the United Nations General Assembly later this month in New York.
Pekcan also said the two sides prioritized various sectors such as textile, furniture, marble, automotive, civil aviation, cement, and chemicals to increase bilateral trade volume.
She reiterated the importance of mutually removing obstacles to achieve trade target.
"We mentioned the barriers in sectors such as iron and steel, the results of our removal from the Generalized Preferences System [GSP], and possible measures to be implemented in automobile sector," she said, adding: "We have passed our demands and suggestions to the U.S. side."
Turkey and the U.S. expect to achieve $100 billion of mutual trade target in a balanced way, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said.
"What we anticipate it to consist of with the $50 billion more from the U.S. side to Turkey and $50 billion more from the Turkish side to U.S.," Ross added.
Highlighting that the target was many times of its current level, Ross said: "So we are anticipating that it would be very balanced and greatly enlarged amount of trade."
Ross said although the numbers sound very large, it is relatively small compared to the total trade volume of the U.S.
Ross noted that the real focus of his 5 day-visit to Turkey was to have immediate delivery of goals that are "tangible, concrete and substantial first steps" which subject to the approval of the U.S. and Turkish presidents that would be announced in connection with the UN ceremonies in New York around Sept. 25.
Washington and Ankara have set an ambitious goal of quadrupling their trade to $100 billion a year, despite the prospect of U.S. sanctions over Turkey's recent purchase of Russian missile defence systems.
After arriving in Turkey on Sept. 6, Ross has met with several business associations in the financial hub Istanbul such as the Foreign Economic Relations Board and the Turkish Industry and Business Association.
In 2018 Turkish-U.S. trade was around $20.6 billion -- including $8.3 billion in exports from Turkey -- according to TurkStat, the Turkish Statistical Institute.
