CURRENCIES: Trump Says He's Doubling Turkish Tariffs As Lira Slides

By Anneken Tappe

President Donald Trump said he authorized the doubling of existing steel and aluminum tariffs on imports from Turkey in response to a dramatic slide of more than 15% in the Turkish lira on Friday.

The lira was last down 18.4% against the buck, according to Factset, marking its biggest loss since February 2001. One dollar bought 6.5731 lira, compared with 5.5426 late Thursday in New York.

(https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1027899286586109955)

Trump has previously called out trade partners' weak currencies versus the greenback, and has openly favored a weaker U.S. currency. Trump's negative view of the strong dollar is predicated on goods priced in weaker currencies being more attractive on the global market.

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index hit its strongest level since July 2017 on Friday.

U.S.-Turkish relations have been rocky of late over the detention of a U.S. pastor by Turkish authorities.

Earlier Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a speech called on his population to exchange dollars and gold for lira (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/turkish-lira-at-fresh-session-low-as-erdogan-calls-for-citizens-to-sell-foreign-currencies-2018-08-10) to stave off its fall. He also said "Turkey won't surrender to economic hitmen."

Friday's events rattled global markets, dragging European stocks, including the STOXX Europe 600 Index and the FTSE 100 . U.S. stocks also opened lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average , S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite all kicking the session off in the red.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 10, 2018 09:51 ET (13:51 GMT)

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