Turkish-U.S. trade has more potential: minister

Trade relations between Turkey and the U.S. increased by US$14 billion in last decade but the potential remains for further growth.

Turkey's EU Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, in a meeting with Turkish-American Business Association head Zeynep Dereli in the EU Ministry office in Istanbul on Thursday, said that although trade relations between the countries increased from US$6 billion to US$20 billion in the last 10 years, it still below the potential in compared to Turkey's trade rates with other countries.

Stating that Turkey's trade with Germany was more than US$35 billion, Cavusoglu noted they could reach a similar rate with the U.S. by activating free trade agreements.

Cavusoglu also called on NGOs and the Turkish-American Business Association to support the process.

Dereli stated that the Turkish EU Ministry was already playing an important role for the ongoing Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - T-TIP - negotiations between the EU and U.S.

T-TIP is a trade agreement being negotiated between the European Union and the United States, aimed at removing trade barriers in a wide range of economic sectors to make it easier to buy and sell goods and services across the Atlantic.

In first five months of 2014, trade volume between Turkey and U.S. was US$7.9 million, whereas it was US$8.3 million in the same period of 2013.