Soon after becoming a World Trade Organization Member, Turkey established a Customs Union with the European Union, its biggest trade partner. Despite negotiating an average 42.6 percent tariff on slightly more than one-third of industrial goods—leaving remaining industrial goods unbound from World Trade Organization commitments—Turkey, pursuant to the Customs Union, eliminated all tariffs on European Union industrial imports. Turkey also implemented the significantly lower European Union Common External Tariffs—bindings averaging 4.1 percent—on all industrial imports from other World Trade Organization Members. In return, Turkey expected the Customs Union to be the ticket to eventual, full European Union membership. Following the non-binding yet politically significant July 2017 European Union Parliament vote suspending accession talks and the recent European Union Council ‘conclusion’ foreclosing negotiations toward ‘modernization’ of the Customs Union, Turkey’s hopes for membership or a less asymmetric Customs Union have faded. This article explains why Turkey’s switch from Customs Union to pursuing free trade agreements with the European Union and other countries would advance its overall trade interests and sketches how this move could be operationalized, both legally and transactionally. (JEL: F13, F53, F55).

中文翻译：

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TURK-SWITCH：土耳其从欧盟-土耳其关税联盟转向与欧盟及其他地区的自由贸易协定的关税杠杆和法律案例

在成为世界贸易组织成员后不久，土耳其与其最大的贸易伙伴欧盟建立了关税同盟。尽管谈判对略高于三分之一的工业产品征收平均 42.6% 的关税——剩余的工业产品不受世界贸易组织承诺的约束——但根据关税同盟，土耳其取消了对欧盟工业进口的所有关税。土耳其还对来自其他世界贸易组织成员的所有工业进口实施了显着降低的欧盟共同对外关税——平均约束率为 4.1%。作为回报，土耳其希望关税同盟成为最终成为欧盟正式成员的门票。继 2017 年 7 月欧盟议会投票暂停加入谈判，以及最近欧盟理事会的“结论”排除关税联盟“现代化”谈判之后，土耳其加入或减少不对称关税联盟的希望已经消退。本文解释了为什么土耳其从关税联盟转向与欧盟和其他国家签订自由贸易协定将促进其整体贸易利益，并概述了这一举措如何在法律和交易上实施。（JEL：F13、F53、F55）。本文解释了为什么土耳其从关税联盟转向与欧盟和其他国家签订自由贸易协定将促进其整体贸易利益，并概述了这一举措如何在法律和交易上实施。（JEL：F13、F53、F55）。本文解释了为什么土耳其从关税联盟转向与欧盟和其他国家签订自由贸易协定将促进其整体贸易利益，并概述了这一举措如何在法律和交易上实施。（JEL：F13、F53、F55）。