Turkey Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in turkey, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Trade Agreements
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Türkiye, as a party to the GATT, conducts Free Trade Agreements in line with Article XXIV of GATT 1947. According to this Article, Türkiye may grant favorable treatment to its trading partners within a customs union or a free trade area without extending such treatment to all WTO members, subject to certain conditions.

Without prejudice to WTO provisions, the Türkiye-EU customs union constitutes the major legal basis of Türkiye’s free trade agreements (FTA). Under the customs union, Türkiye aligns its commercial policy with the EU’s Common Commercial Policy. This alignment concerns both autonomous regimes and preferential agreements with third countries. Türkiye negotiates and concludes free trade agreements with third countries in parallel with the EU. Together with the EU Common Customs Tariff, the preferential trade regimes constitute the most important part of the trade policy applied towards third countries.

Türkiye has concluded FTAs with 38 countries; however, 11 were repealed upon their accession to the EU. The remaining 22 FTAs in force are with EFTA, Israel, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Albania, Georgia, Montenegro, Serbia, Chile, Mauritius, South Korea, Malaysia, Moldova, Faroe Islands, Singapore, United Kingdom, Venezuela, and Kosovo. Additional FTAs signed with Lebanon, Sudan, and Qatar, will come into force once ratified by the relevant parliaments. Türkiye has been actively engaged in FTA negotiations with Indonesia, Japan, Somalia, Thailand, and Ukraine. Türkiye continues its efforts to speed up its ongoing FTA negotiations with the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Cameroon, Chad, Seychelles, Gulf Cooperation Council, and MERCOSUR.

The Türkiye-EU customs union eliminated custom duties and quantitative restrictions. As a result of the customs union, Türkiye opened its internal market to EU and third-country competition, while securing free access to the EU market. In addition, Türkiye has sought to align itself to the preferential regimes that the EU applies to third countries and to harmonize its legislation with the EU’s acquis communautaire in a broad spectrum of areas, including standards and technical legislation, and competition policy. While negotiations to update the customs union were launched several years ago, talks have stalled.

A Tax Treaty Agreement between the United States and Türkiye for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect to Taxes on Income, together with a related Protocol, was signed in 1996 and became effective on January 1, 1998. See the full tax treaty here.

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Global Business Navigator Chatbot Beta

Welcome to the Global Business Navigator, an artificial intelligence (AI) Chatbot from the International Trade Administration (ITA). This tool, currently in beta version testing, is designed to provide general information on the exporting process and the resources available to assist new and experienced U.S. exporters. The Chatbot, developed using Microsoft’s Azure AI services, is trained on ITA’s export-related content and aims to quickly get users the information they need. The Chatbot is intended to make the benefits of exporting more accessible by understanding non-expert language, idiomatic expressions, and foreign languages.

Limitations

As a beta product, the Chatbot is currently being tested and its responses may occasionally produce inaccurate or incomplete information. The Chatbot is trained to decline out of scope or inappropriate requests. The Chatbot’s knowledge is limited to the public information on the Export Solutions web pages of Trade.gov, which covers a wide range of topics on exporting. While it cannot provide responses specific to a company’s product or a specific foreign market, its reference pages will guide you to other relevant government resources and market research. Always double-check the Chatbot’s responses using the provided references or by visiting the Export Solutions web pages on Trade.gov. Do not use its responses as legal or professional advice. Inaccurate advice from the Chatbot would not be a defense to violating any export rules or regulations.

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Translation

The Chatbot supports a wide range of languages. Because the Chatbot is trained in English and responses are translated, you should verify the translation. For example, the Chatbot may have difficulty with acronyms, abbreviations, and nuances in a language other than English.

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