ECAs in international politics - US and Germany vs Turkey
(ECA Watch, Ottawa, 28 August 2018) When President Trump agreed to press Israel to release a Turkish prisoner in exchange for Turkey's release of an American Christian pastor, Israel complied but Turkey didn't, resulting in a crippling increase in US tarifs on Turkey, including threats of possible export credit sanctions. In a similar case in July 2018, a German journalist arrested in Turkey was released when Germany, Turkey’s biggest trading partner, lifted export credit guarantee sanctions implemented a year earlier to protest the arrests and the ongoing Turkish state of emergency (OHAL). When faced with the prospect of losing export credits and a project to update Turkey's German-made Leopard tanks, Erdoğan changed course and freed Die Welt correspondent DenizYücel without a trial. Turkey had originally asked the US release a Turkish banker convicted of helping Iran avoid US sanctions as well as to waive U.S. government fines totaling billions of dollars against Turkey's state owned Halkbank over violations of US sanctions on Iran.