- Two sides in rift over trade balance
- Morocco posting large deficits
- Both countries tied to free-trade pact
A Turkish business delegation headed by trade minister Omer Polat will visit Morocco next month to finalise commerce and investment agreements involving new projects.
Turkey and Morocco have been locked in a commercial rift over the large deficit in Morocco’s trade balance although the two countries are tied to a free-trade agreement (FTA).
With the aim of redressing the balance, Morocco in 2019 introduced amendments to the 21-year-old FTA involving easier access for some of its products to Turkish markets and protection against dumping. However, the deficit has persisted.
The gap was estimated by Morocco’s trade ministry at nearly $2.4 billion in 2023 and it peaked at around $3 billion in 2024 after Turkish exports, mainly textiles, hit an all-time high of about MAD39 billion ($4.2 billion).
Polat’s planned visit follows an investment forum hosted by Istanbul last week for businesspeople from the two countries. More than 70 Moroccan companies and 400 Turkish investors attended.
“Polat will travel to Morocco at the start of 2026 to sign new cooperation agreements and attend the signing of other agreements for fresh Turkish investments in Morocco,” the Moroccan daily Hespress reported on Tuesday.
“It is clear that the two countries are heading for an agreement to activate the results of the negotiations they have held to reduce Morocco’s trade deficit,” it said.
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The newspaper quoted government sources as saying Rabat had sent Ankara a list of products for which Morocco wants free access to Turkish markets.
Morocco’s former trade minister Moulay Hafid Elalamy said last year that Ankara had shown understanding towards Rabat’s demands after the textile industry in Morocco suffered damage and tens of thousands of workers lost their jobs because of the possible dumping of Turkish products.
Business leaders in the North African Arab nation argue that long-term solutions require Morocco to boost the competitiveness of its own industrial output, diversify exports and reassess several free-trade pacts with other countries.
