TAIK introduces itself to Biden administration, proposes to partner against China

The president of the Turkey-United States Business Council (TAIK), Turkey’s largest trade group in the U.S., introduced itself to President Joe Biden’s administration with proposals on how the two countries can achieve greater cooperation.

Mehmet Ali Yalçındağ, TAIK’s president, led the effort with a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday. Congratulating Blinken on his confirmation to the post, Yalçındağ praised Blinken for his “well-deserved appointment” to lead the Department of State and expressed his eagerness to build a working relationship.

“The economic relationship between our two countries is not just vital for Turkish and American livelihoods; it is the foundation upon which our decades-old alliance can be strengthened,” wrote Yalçındağ. He stressed that deepened cooperation would “bring forth more security, understanding, and increased cooperation within our critically important strategic relationship.”

This attempt at commercial diplomacy is expected from Turkey’s chief business representative in the U.S., but Yalçındağ himself is curious messenger considering his ties to the past administration.

Yalçındağ is a known friend of President Donald Trump’s family through his father-in-law and one of Turkey’s richest businessmen Aydın Doğan. The two families worked together in securing the plot of land where Trump Towers Istanbul rose from the ground in 2008. On the night of Trump’s election in 2016, Yalçındağ was reportedly present at Trump Towers in New York City and acted as an initial channel to the new first family for Turkey’s embassy in Washington.

It was these connections with the Trumps that paved Yalçındağ’s way to taking the helm of TAIK in 2018. Under his leadership, TAIK spent lavishly on properties connected to the Trump business empire though he denied ever meeting the president himself during his term in office.

Yalçındağ’s letter was distributed by Mercury Public Affairs, TAIK’s long-time lobbyist on K-Street. Mercury previously worked for the Turkish embassy, but ended its contract following pressure from Armenian-American groups opposed to Turkey’s support for Azerbaijan in the war over Nagorno-Karabakh last year. 

This letter to Blinken was not TAIK’s first outreach attempt to the new president’s team. Yalçındağ told in an interview recently that he sent Biden a letter after his election and to other cabinet leaders including Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.

Yalçındağ said that he received no response from the new president, but claimed it reached Biden’s chief of staff Ron Klein, most likely by the help of another lobbyist. Representatives for the State, Commerce and Agriculture did not return Ahval News’ request for comment on whether their leaders received or had a response to Yalçındağ’s letter.

In his letters, Yalçındağ pitched familiar ideas to each cabinet member that mirror proposals made during the Trump administration. These include calls for boosting U.S.-Turkey trade to $100 billion from its current level of $20.7 billion.

Increased imports of U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) was another proposal made in Yalcindağ’s letters. In recent years, Turkey has emphasised its decreasing imports of gas from U.S foes Iran and Russia and its increasing import of American gas. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (EIA), Turkish imports of U.S. LNG currently stands at 123,957 million cubic feet, a figure that has steadily grown in the last six years.

Conspicuously absent from Yalçındağ ’s letters to the Biden administration, particularly to Blinken, was any mention of U.S. sanctions over Turkey’s acquisition of the S-400 missile system from Russia in July 2019.

Since acquiring the missiles, Turkey was removed from the F-35 programme and its defence sector stands to lose billions in contracts from its expulsion. Last December, the Trump administration slapped sanctions on the leaders of the Turkish defence industry, and the Biden team has indicated that it will maintain the current regime until the S-400 is removed from service.

Yalçındağ has repeatedly made clear his disagreement with the decision to sanction Turkey and his hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough over the current impasse.

One theme from the Trump years that may receive some interest from the Biden administration is proposals of cooperation against China. President Biden and his subordinates have all made clear China is their number one foreign policy priority, a desire strongly shared with Congress.

To this end, Yalçındağ suggests expanded commercial relations between the U.S. and Turkey could help American businesses looking to decouple themselves from China, a trend that has garnered interest amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Large U.S. corporations like Walmart are already shifting their supply chains from China to Turkey, and we are eager to prove Turkey's value as a reliable partner for U.S. companies seeking to diversify supply chains following the pandemic,” he wrote to Raimundo and Vilsack.

Further abroad, Yalçındağ added that Turkey’s commercial ties could help the U.S. develop its presence in Africa.

A TAIK-commissioned report from Boston Consulting Group (BCG) explained that China’s presence on the continent was based around infrastructure and capital investments on top of its willingness to cut deals with undemocratic governments. African nations have at times chafed at China’s presence, but Beijing remains the largest trading partner for many of them.

Samuel Ramani, a researcher at Oxford University, told Ahval News that cooperation in Africa is possible for the U.S. and Turkey, especially given Ankara’s growing presence across the continent. He adds that cooperation in locations that are volatile like Libya or Somalia where Turkey has established itself in recent years could be beneficial.

“These commercial links are feasible as they dovetail with potential security policy goals of both countries - the U.S. and Turkey both back the GNA [Government of National Accords] in Libya and both want less extremism in the Horn of Africa,” said Ramani.

Ramani does caution that Turkey and the U.S. “cannot expect to counter China’s hegemony in Africa” but there is room for working together on economic development projects. Both are members of the African Development Bank alongside China for example which could lead to some joint efforts.

The extent to which any work can be combined in Africa though would likely lie in companies working together than anything on the official level. Ramani suggests that there is “little real cooperation that is institutionalised” between the two, based on competing partnerships in other parts of Africa.

“Company to company links could still form, but perhaps they would not necessarily be guided by the U.S. government,” Ramani explained.