Bad Apple: Erdogan threatens iPhone boycott after spat with US
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called for a boycott of iPhones and other American electronic products yesterday as tensions between the two countries escalated.
Erdogan remained defiant amid what he called an “economic war” with the US after Washington imposed punitive sanctions on Ankara.
“Whatever we buy from abroad we are going to produce here in better quality and export it. We are going to boycott US electronics,” Erdogan said.
“If they have the iPhone on the other hand there is Samsung. In our country we have Venus and Vestel,” he said, referring to Turkish electronics manufacturers.
It comes after US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on aluminium and steel imports from Turkey to 20 per cent and 50 per cent respectively.
The lira steadied yesterday to 6.50 against the dollar after crashing to an all-time low on Monday.
The Turkish currency, which has lost more than 40 per cent of its value this year, gained ground after finance minister Berat Albayrak said: “We will protect the lira, we will march with the lira and the lira will strengthen greatly in the coming period.”