Economy
Türkiye pushes EU to shield trade ties amid industrial overhaul
Trade Minister Ömer Bolat said Friday that Türkiye is engaged in intensive negotiations with the European Union to ensure the bloc’s new industrial policies and its “Made in EU” strategy do not undermine bilateral trade and investment.
Bolat’s remarks came following his two-day visit to Brussels, where he held a series of meetings with EU officials and European automotive industry representatives.
Ankara is closely monitoring the EU’s industrial policy initiatives, including the bloc’s Industrial Acceleration Act and the “Made in EU” agenda, as well as broader protectionist trends in global trade, Bolat said.
“We are conducting intensive efforts to ensure these developments do not harm Türkiye-EU trade, investment, economic relations or the future of the automotive industry,” he told Anadolu Agency (AA).
Bolat said opinions within the EU remain divided, with some member states favoring greater protectionism while others support deeper economic integration with partners such as Türkiye.
Although bloc membership talks have been stalled for years, both Ankara and Brussels say they want to modernize their customs union and boost economic ties.
Türkiye’s interests
Bolat said the Turkish government and private sector are working together to expand support among European policymakers for maintaining open trade and strengthening economic cooperation.
“We are working to protect Türkiye’s rights and interests, deepen Türkiye-EU economic relations on the basis of mutual benefit, attract more investment and further increase bilateral trade,” Bolat said.
Bilateral trade between Türkiye and the EU reached $233 billion in 2025, with the automotive sector, including finished vehicles and components, accounting for about $62 billion.
“The EU is Türkiye’s most important export market, while Türkiye is the EU’s fifth-largest trading partner,” Bolat said.
He reiterated Ankara’s call for negotiations to modernize the 30-year-old EU-Türkiye Customs Union, saying both sides recognize the need to update the agreement, although talks have yet to begin because of objections from some EU member states.
For decades, Türkiye and the bloc enjoyed good trade ties and cooperation on migration. However, relations have been strained over multiple issues, including the prolonged process of expansion of the scope of the customs union agreement and maritime issues with Greece and the Greek Cypriot administration.
The deeper 1990s-era trade agreement would be expanded to services, farm goods and public procurement. The current deal only covers a limited range of industrial products. Business groups have long argued that the deal is outdated and ill-suited for today’s trade environment.
‘Sweeping’ protectionism
Although the pact has enabled their economic ties to reach unprecedented levels, Bolat said new global developments require close coordination between the two partners.
“Protectionist winds are sweeping across the world,” he noted.
Bolat pointed to rapidly increasing imports from East Asia, changes in U.S. trade policy, and the EU’s own industrial initiatives. “We are closely monitoring these developments,” he said.
Bolat also said discussions covered visa issues, noting that the EU’s Cascade visa system, introduced last year, had shortened appointment waiting times and improved application processing in some member states, although technical constraints continued to cause delays in others.
Frustration has been growing in Türkiye over Schengen visa delays and rising rejections. Last year, Turkish nationals submitted 1.25 million visa applications for the Schengen zone, up from 906,000 in 2019, European Commission figures show.
Of that number, 1.07 million were approved. But the rejection rate has also risen – from 9.7% in 2019 to 14.6% in 2025.
Bolat added that Turkish road transport operators still face quota restrictions despite growing trade volumes, with road freight accounting for more than half of Türkiye-EU trade flows.
Moving relations forward
The minister acknowledged that advancing negotiations requires navigating the complex political structure of the EU.
“The European Union is not a single, compact entity,” Bolat said. “It consists of 27 countries, hundreds of political parties, different governments and different economic interests.”
Some member states favor more open trade and stronger economic cooperation with Türkiye, while others advocate greater protection of domestic industries, he noted.
Bolat said Türkiye continues to engage with EU member states through ministerial and leadership-level diplomacy, including contacts involving President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while maintaining dialogue with European institutions and the private sector.
“Our objective is to move Türkiye-EU relations forward on the basis of a balanced win-win approach, attract more investment to our country and further increase bilateral trade,” he said.
He said Ankara’s priority is to increase support among European partners for closer economic cooperation and secure decisions that will strengthen Türkiye-EU relations in the coming period.
“I can confidently say that we have seen positive and constructive approaches from many different groups,” Bolat said.
“Our efforts are focused on increasing the number of those who support Türkiye’s views and strengthening our circle of friends so that future decisions will further advance Türkiye-EU relations in a positive direction.”
COP31 co-host Türkiye on Friday called on member states of the Developing Eight Organization for Economic Cooperation (D-8) to strengthen cooperation, saying the bloc’s collective weight gives it a transformative role in the global climate agenda.
“The D-8 family, with its geography stretching from Asia to Africa and the Middle East and a population exceeding 1 billion, has a special place and transformative power in the global climate agenda,” Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Murat Kurum said.
Kurum was speaking at a meeting of D-8 in Istanbul, which gathered environment and climate ministers and senior officials from Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan and Azerbaijan as Türkiye prepares to host this year’s U.N.-sponsored climate talks.
“The common will to be demonstrated by the D-8 is of particular importance for COP31’s implementation-oriented approach,” Kurum, who’s also the COP31 president, said.
The conference will start on Nov. 9 in Antalya, southern Türkiye, while Australia will oversee the formal negotiations.
Kurum said Friday’s gathering was particularly significant as Türkiye prepares for its COP31 presidency and that cooperation among D-8 members would strengthen the role of developing countries in the global climate agenda.
Climate change is no longer a future risk but a global challenge directly affecting economic development, cities, food security, energy systems and public welfare, he said.
Despite numerous commitments, a significant gap remained between climate pledges and implementation on the ground, he added.
‘Dialogue, consensus, action’
Kurum said Türkiye was ready to share its experience in post-disaster reconstruction, Zero Waste practices, resilient cities, energy efficiency, the circular economy and sustainable infrastructure.
“We see COP31 as an implementation platform where climate adaptation is accelerated, access to finance and technology is strengthened, urban resilience is enhanced and nature-based solutions are expanded,” he said.
He said the COP31 presidency had adopted three main principles: “dialogue, consensus and action.”
Türkiye’s COP31 Action Agenda includes 10 priority areas, including reducing methane emissions, accelerating electrification and energy efficiency, promoting sustainable agriculture, supporting green industrialization and building climate-resilient cities.
It also prioritizes youth participation, resilient systems and stronger cross-sector cooperation.
Global targets for 2035
Kurum said Türkiye had proposed measurable global implementation targets extending to 2035.
These include raising the global electrification rate to 35%, halving the growth rate of global waste generation, reducing energy-use intensity in buildings by at least 25% and increasing circular material use in production and manufacturing to at least 15%.
The targets also seek to expand climate education and improve the speed, effectiveness and inclusiveness of climate finance.
Kurum said one of the main COP31 initiatives would be the Climate Implementation Bridge, designed to help developing countries turn climate commitments into investable projects and gain access to financing.
The meeting was expected to address climate adaptation, loss and damage, climate finance, a just transition and stronger cooperation among D-8 countries.
Kurum said the Istanbul Declaration would set out the group’s common environmental and climate vision and make an important contribution to COP31.
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) has unveiled a paid-for, licensed data feed that will give banks and trading firms “the fastest” access to posts from influential Truth Social accounts, such as U.S. President Donald Trump’s, whose posts often move global markets.
The product, called “Truth API,” will deliver posts from the 10 most influential accounts to customers at a significantly faster pace than a regular push notification on the Truth Social platform, a spokesperson said.
The feed is designed for organizations “most impacted by the cost of a delay in information,” such as algorithmic trading firms, the company said in a statement. “Until now… firms that prioritize tracking influential Truth posts have relied on manual monitoring. Truth API closes the gap.”
The move is TMTG’s first step into data-licensing, and opens up a new revenue stream for the company, which has faced challenges in scaling its media business amid stiff competition from larger social media firms.
“Markets already move on Truth Social posts … As adoption grows, we expect Truth API to become a meaningful, ongoing source of revenue for the company,” TMTG’s interim CEO Kevin McGurn said.
Trump has made several announcements through his Truth Social handle that have jolted markets worldwide, including his “Liberation Day” tariffs and posts regarding trade restrictions on China, making the platform a crucial feed for traders, businesses and financial institutions.
On April 9, 2025, Wall Street’s main indexes turned sharply higher after Trump said in a Truth Social post that he would pause many of his new tariffs for 90 days.
Market-moving poster
“As far as I know, the only market-moving poster on Truth Social is Trump himself and his posts definitely move the market,” Mark Spiegel, managing member and portfolio manager at Stanphyl Capital Partners, said.
Asked if the move would create uneven trading opportunities for traders with deeper pockets, Spiegel said there are always uneven trading opportunities – this would be just one more.
The Donald J. Trump Revocable Trust holds roughly 114.75 million shares, representing about 41% of all outstanding stock in Trump Media & Technology Group, Truth Social’s parent company, according to regulatory filings.
Robert Frenchman, a partner at the Dynamis law firm in New York who has defended clients in federal government trading probes, said public companies had to be careful about how they disclose information on such platforms. But such platforms are allowed to offer clients early access even if it disadvantages some market participants.
“It certainly does not seem fair, but yes, a tech platform can tier its distribution of information without violating federal securities laws,” said Frenchman.
TMTG did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether the move would create uneven trading opportunities.
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden criticized the program, saying that selling access to the president’s statements makes Wall Street traders rich.
Round-the-clock coverage
The product will provide round-the-clock coverage of influential posts and include an archive of posts dating back to 2022. The company said it has already signed up customers ahead of the Aug. 1 launch.
Some of the most-followed accounts on Truth Social belong to Trump himself and those closely aligned with him, including his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as prominent supporters like Dan Bongino and Sean Hannity.
Firms have been scraping Truth Social data for months, in violation of TMTG’s terms of service, according to a spokesperson.
“We’re going to create a lot of friction for those folks that aren’t coming to us directly,” McGurn said in a statement.
The outbreak of the war in the Middle East has boosted real estate investments by foreign investors in Türkiye by 28.3% on an annual basis in March, April and May, according to a report on Thursday citing data from the Turkish central bank.
At the same time, Turkish nationals’ real estate investments abroad, which reached a record high of $2.6 billion in 2025, have dropped in recent months, the data shared by Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) in its recent balance of payments data shows.
The figure rose 44.4% year-over-year in January to $208 million and climbed 18.4% in February to $225 million.
However, the war, which broke out at the end of the month, caused overseas residential property purchases by Turkish nationals to decline from March onward. Turkish nationals’ real estate purchases abroad declined 18% year-over-year to $187 million in March.
In April, that figure decreased 19.4% to $187 million and in May, it dropped by a whopping 40% to $143 million, the lowest level in 29 months.
Accordingly, the total value of overseas real estate investments by Turkish nationals in March, April and May fell 26% to $517 million, while real estate investments by foreign nationals in Türkiye increased.
Non-residents paid $590 million to purchase real estate in Türkiye, marking a 29.3% year-on-year increase.
The figure rose 62.4% to $242 million in March, 17.1% to $164 million in April, and 7.6% to $184 million in May despite the nine-day Eid al-Adha holiday.
Bayram Tekçe, president of the Istanbul-based Real Estate Services Exporters’ Association (GIGDER), told Anadolu Agency (AA) that in recent years, Turkish nationals have traditionally invested in residential property abroad, particularly in Dubai and Greece, but the war in the Gulf and Athens’ stance toward Ankara have affected those investments.
“The attacks in Dubai in March virtually halted real estate purchases, leading to a decline in sales, while Greece’s hostile stance against Türkiye and its cooperation with Israel and the Greek Cypriot Administration, as well as its efforts to deploy armed troops on the islands, affected the Turkish appetite for purchasing real estate in the country,” he said.
Tekçe said Russian nationals made more real estate purchases in Türkiye than last year, as bureaucratic processes have been streamlined to facilitate the process.
Burak Ustaoğlu, a global real estate expert, meanwhile, said that investors adopted a more cautious stance toward overseas purchases and postponed their investments following the war in the Gulf, particularly in Dubai, where Turkish investors had shown strong interest prior to the outbreak of the conflict.
“The war and the risk perception led to a temporary hesitation, not only in Dubai but across all overseas real estate investments,” he said, noting that investors have yet to fully abandon their overseas investment plans and are instead waiting for uncertainties to subside.
Ustaoğlu stated that Türkiye’s recently implemented economic policies and steps taken to strengthen its financial stability encouraged some domestic investors to opt for opportunities at home, rather than abroad.
He said Türkiye still offers attractive opportunities for foreign buyers because housing prices are competitive in foreign currency terms compared with many other countries, while Ankara’s diplomatic engagement on the global stage has reinforced confidence in the country.
“The perception of Türkiye as a stable and trustworthy country prompted foreign visitors to monitor the country more closely,” he said.
Ustaoğlu noted that Türkiye’s real estate market currently offers significant price advantages at present as many construction firms offer their completed and immediately available homes for highly competitive prices due to a slowdown in demand, creating opportunities for long-term investors.
He added that recently, investors from the Gulf, Russia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, in particular, have exhibited increased interest in Turkish real estate offerings.
German food delivery company Delivery Hero announced on Thursday it has agreed to be acquired by U.S. ride-hailing giant Uber in a 12.7 billion euro ($14.6 billion) deal after months of speculation, which opens the door to the American firm making the global takeout giant and further consolidating its grip in the field.
The acquisition advances the U.S. ride-hailing firm’s efforts to build a global food-delivery business as it faces intensifying competition from Just Eat, owned by Dutch group Prosus, and U.S. rival DoorDash, which has also been expanding aggressively.
“Combination is designed to accelerate innovation and expand the range, value and convenience of services for customers, vendors and riders,” the German company said in the statement.
Founded in 2011, Delivery Hero currently operates in over 60 markets and is one of the world’s biggest food delivery groups.
It has also expanded beyond its traditional food business to “quick commerce,” delivering small packages to customers.
Uber is offering 41.50 euros per share for Delivery Hero, valuing the deal at 12.7 billion euros. Delivery Hero’s shares were down 0.5% in Frankfurt after the announcement, trading at 37.9 euros.
“Uber’s global mobility and delivery platform and our shared commitment to innovation make this the right partnership to build on Delivery Hero’s strengths in local food delivery and quick commerce,” said Niklas Oestberg, CEO and co-founder of Delivery Hero.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said a merger would “extend affordable, reliable delivery to many millions more people in some of the world’s most dynamic economies, while creating more opportunities for merchants and couriers.”
Uber is acquiring Delivery Hero’s businesses in 50 markets worldwide across Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East.
A U.S. investment firm, SSW Partners, is acquiring the German group’s operations in another 14 markets, where Uber and Delivery Hero compete, for around 1.4 billion euros.
Delivery Hero said its management recommends that shareholders accept the deal, and it is expected to be finalized in the second half of 2027.
The transaction, which is likely to face a complex regulatory process, would create a platform spanning 99 countries with a combined pro-forma gross merchandise value (GMV) of $236 billion in 2025, Delivery Hero said in a statement.
Prior to the merger, there were concerns about how the deal could potentially reshape the Turkish delivery market, where Delivery Hero owns Yemeksepeti, the oldest food delivery service provider in the country.
However, the statement and information shared by Uber on Thursday reveals that SSW Partners would be acquiring operations in a number of countries, including Türkiye.
Uber acquired the majority of the stake in another popular delivery service firm in Türkiye, Trendyol Go, last year.
Last month, the company also received the green light for the takeover of the delivery arm of Turkish company Getir from controlling shareholder Mubadala.
Türkiye’s central government budget shifted to a surplus by posting an excess of TL 114.2 billion (around $2.4 billion) in June, reversing the deficit registered in the same month last year, official data showed on Thursday.
Budget revenue jumped 66.0% year-over-year to nearly $32.1 bilion in current prices, fueled by a 72% increase in tax collections, data from the Treasury and Finance Ministry showed.
Expenditures increased 12.6% to some $29.7 billion, data revealed.
The primary balance, which excludes interest payments, registered a surplus of $6.7 billion in June, compared with a deficit of $1.15 billion in the same month last year.
Non-interest expenditures increased 23.9% year-on-year to $25.3 billion, while interest payments fell 26.9% to $4.3 billion.
Tax revenues surged 72% year-on-year to $28.05 billion.
Income tax revenues rose 145.7%, domestic value-added tax (VAT) receipts increased 89.6%, and value-added tax collected on imports climbed 53.1%.
Meanwhile, corporate tax revenues increased 31.8%, and special consumption tax receipts edged down 0.1%.
In the January-June period, central government budget expenditures rose 32.7% year-on-year to $185.5 billion, while revenues increased 39.1% to $165.5 billion.
The budget thus posted a deficit of $20 billion during the first half of the year, compared with a deficit of around $20.8 billion in the same period of 2025.
Tax revenues in the six months increased 38.7% to $140.7 billion.
Interest expenditures rose 31.7% to $31 billion, while non-interest expenditures increased 32.9% to $154.5 billion.
The U.S. will impose a 25% tariff on most imports from Brazil starting July 22, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office said on Wednesday, the first action under the Trump administration’s new tariff strategy that could eventually affect dozens of countries.
The new program, launched after the U.S. Supreme Court tore down the centerpiece of Trump’s tariff system earlier this year, is based on investigations into unfair trade practices under Section 301 of the U.S. Trade Act.
Close to 80 trade investigations have been opened by the USTR office and a new wave of tariffs could be imposed on dozens of countries, including China, the EU, India, Japan, South Korea and Mexico.
Wednesday’s announcement follows a proposal by the Trump administration in June to impose a punitive tariff of 25% on many imports from Brazil after deciding its practices were unfair on a range of issues from digital trade to illegal deforestation.
“Extensive negotiations with Brazil over the past year have not resolved these issues, but we remain open to continuing negotiations with Brazil to bring about long-needed changes to the problems identified in this investigation,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a statement.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the U.S. decision was without any justification.
Brazil would immediately begin proceedings to invoke instruments provided for under the “Reciprocity Law” and revisit the matter within the framework of the WTO dispute settlement mechanism, he said on X.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was accused by Lula of being anti-Latin America when the U.S. tariffs were proposed in June, blamed the Brazilian president and said, “Lula and his government have not negotiated with the U.S. in good faith.”
“For the past year, Lula has put his own ego ahead of making a deal for the welfare of the Brazilian people, and these tariffs are the price for that,” Rubio said in a strongly worded post on X.
The tariffs would apply to thousands of Brazilian imports, including sugar, agricultural machinery, apparel, electrical machinery, paper and steel.
The U.S. said it would exempt all the products proposed for exemption in the June notice, except high-purity dissolving pulp and non-pharmaceutical applications of certain products.
The exemptions include beef, coffee, rare earths, energy products, aircraft and aircraft parts.
The U.S. also added organic honey, pig iron, unflavored instant coffee and some other products to the list of exemptions on Wednesday.
The investigation into Brazil, opened last July, cited several alleged unfair practices, including illegal deforestation and Brazil’s instant payment system, Pix, which the U.S. government argues disadvantages credit card companies.
Brazil vehemently rejected all the allegations.
Brazil has also been included in a separate Section 301 investigation by the USTR, due to conclude on July 24, into connections to forced labor in the supply chains of dozens of countries.
The probe is expected to result in an additional 12.5% tariff, bringing the total burden for Brazilian products to 37.5%.
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