Turkish Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan delivers a speech at a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, on April 12, 2019. (Xinhua/Xu Suhui)

ANKARA, May 17 (Xinhua) -- Turkey on Friday welcomed Washington's decision to halve tariffs on steel imports, and urged the United States to remove all trade obstacles.

"Elimination of the additional 25-percent tariffs on Turkish steel imports is a positive step. However, we expect the eradication of all obstacles to bilateral trade," Turkey's Trade Minister Ruhsar Pekcan tweeted.

Pekcan's statements came after U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to cut tariffs on Turkish steel imports from 50 percent to 25 percent.

The U.S. doubled tariffs on Turkish steel and aluminium imports in August, 2018 amid a diplomatic spat over the detention of a U.S. pastor.

Meanwhile, the White House announced the end of Turkey's eligibility for the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) program, a policy of preferential trade treatment for its participant countries. The decision took effect on Friday.

Pekcan criticized the U.S. move contradicted the countries' mutual goal of 75 billion dollars in annual bilateral trade, saying it will also hit U.S. companies.

The GSP program allows duty-free exports of thousands kinds of industrial products to the U.S. Turkey has been a part of GSP since 1975.

In March, the U.S. said Turkey would no longer benefit from the scheme since the country was "sufficiently economically developed."