Morocco Threatens to Cancel Trade Deal with Turkey Over Billion-Dollar Losses

The minister, who received his Turkish counterpart this Wednesday, January 15, specified that the country will no longer be able to keep up with the pace of the agreement with Turkey. "I have clearly expressed our point of view to the Turks: either revise the terms of the agreement, or destroy it," he said.

During the weekly session held last Monday at the Moroccan Parliament, Moulay Hafid El Alamy announced that Morocco will cancel any trade agreement that could cause losses to the national economy.

In response to an oral question, the minister declared that Morocco would not allow any country to harm the national economy, specifying however that "we have no disagreement with other countries, but we refuse for one of them to threaten jobs in Morocco".

"Morocco has signed free trade agreements with 56 countries. It is out of the question to face them all, knowing that some agreements have had a positive impact on the national economy, particularly the one with the United States, which has led to a 16% increase in exports in ten years," the minister said.

According to a report indexed to the 2020 Finance Bill, the trade deficit of Morocco, as a result of the free trade agreement with Turkey, increased from 4.4 billion dirhams in 2006 to 16 billion dirhams in 2018.