Turkey, U.S. Settle Digital-Tax Dispute

WASHINGTON – Turkey agreed last month to alter its digital-services tax, ending the threat of U.S. tariffs on Turkish tile and natural stone.

The two countries announced Nov. 22 that Turkey would join with five other countries in a compromise agreement to halt taxation on digital services that would affect U.S. tech giants such as Alphabet, Apple and Meta.

The U.S. will work with Turkey, along with Austria, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom on a solution addressing tax challenges in the digital economy.

In return, the U.S. called off the imposition of reactive tariffs against a range of Turkish goods, including some categories of natural stone and ceramic tile.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) announced the tariffs on selected imports from the six targeted countries in May, but suspended collection until Nov. 29 to work out a solution. The other five countries announced an agreement with the United States on Oct. 8.

Of the goods targeted for additional U.S. tariffs from the six digital-services-tax countries, only Turkey’s list included hard surfaces. The tariffs would’ve affected categories that totaled $14.9 million in natural stone and $102.5 million in porcelain in 2020 shipments, according to a Hard-Surface Report analysis of import data.

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