President Donald Trump said Friday he would “always make” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan happy, calling him a close friend, when pressed on why Washington has yet to lift sanctions imposed on Türkiye under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act despite pledging months ago to remove them.
Asked what was holding up the removal of the sanctions, Trump avoided a direct answer, instead emphasizing his personal rapport with the Turkish leader. The remarks mark the latest signal of warmth between the two leaders even as the underlying sanctions dispute remains unresolved.
The sanctions stem from Turkey’s 2019 purchase of Russia’s S-400 missile defense system, which prompted Washington to impose CAATSA sanctions in December 2020 on Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries and several senior officials, and led to Ankara’s removal from the F-35 fighter jet program. Trump signaled a possible reset on the issue during a meeting with Erdoğan on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Ankara in July, telling reporters at the time that the sanctions would be lifted and that Washington would “certainly” consider allowing Turkey to rejoin the F-35 program.
Friday’s comments come nearly three months after that pledge, with no formal action yet taken to remove the sanctions. The CAATSA dispute has remained one of the most persistent points of friction in the US-Turkey defense relationship for several years, with Ankara repeatedly pressing for the sanctions’ removal and a return to the F-35 program, while members of the US Congress have at times pushed for sanctions to be enforced more strictly rather than eased.
