Trade Min-Trade Halt w/Israel Until Permanent Ceasefire & Aid Secured

Turkish Trade Minister Ömer Bolat has stated that the trade halt with Israel announced on 2 May will continue until a permanent ceasefire is in place and the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza is secured. These comments appear to go further than the ministry's comments last night, which only referred to the halt remaining until aid flows are secured.

• In the wake of the announcement, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz posted on X. Regarding President Recep Tayyip Erdgoan he said, "This is how a dictator behaves, disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen, and ignoring international trade agreements"
• Turkey has been one of the most vociferous critics of Israel's actions in Gaza, a line reinforced by the poor performance by Erdogan's AKP in the recent local elections. The AKP's losses in historic strongholds was attributed by some observersto conservative anger over the war in Gaza and a percieved lax response from Erdogan.
• FT: "Turkey’s trade with Israel was $7.1bn last year, down from $9.5bn in 2022, according to Trade Data Monitor, a customs database. Turkish exports accounted for about three-quarters of that."
• Data for 2022 shows refined petroleum accounting for 44% of Israeli exports to Turkey in 2022, valued at just over USD1bn, with scrap iron the second-most prevalent export, accounting for 12.6% of the total (USD293mn). Israel's imports from Turkey, valued at USD7bn in 2022, came largely in the form of metals, machinery parts, and textiles.