Tunisia to review free trade agreement with Turkey

Tunisia’s ministry of Trade is set to amend a free trade agreement with Turkey, believed detrimental to the North African country, reports say.

The ministry indicated in a statement that the review will include the addition of new categories of products not concerned by preferential taxation, and focusing on products that have a locally-produced equivalent and on sectors that are experiencing difficulties due to increased imports of Turkish products.

The ministry said the move is meant to avoid limiting the worsening of the trade deficit with Turkey. Both counties signed in 2005 a free trade agreement but the deal has been facing criticism in Tunisia whose trade deficit with Turkey, according figures from the ministry of Trade, amounts to around $900 million.

The North African country had already demanded in 2021 the review of the free trade agreement with Turkey in a bid to protect national production.