President Trump announced Tuesday he is lifting longstanding defense sanctions on Turkey, potentially clearing the way to sell advanced F-35 fighter jets to a NATO ally that has spent years locked out of the program.
“We don’t want to sanction friends,” Trump told reporters at Etimesgut Air Base, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met him on the tarmac for the opening of the alliance’s two-day summit.
The sanctions, imposed under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, date to 2019 and 2020, when Turkey purchased Russian-made S-400 surface-to-air missile systems. That purchase triggered the original decision to remove Turkey from the F-35 program, followed by formal sanctions in 2020.
Turkey has long pushed for reentry into the F-35 program after being ejected for the S-400 deal, which U.S. and NATO officials said created an unacceptable intelligence risk by allowing Russian systems to collect performance data on the stealth aircraft.
Trump’s move comes over the objection of some Republican lawmakers and Israel, which has raised concerns about a resurgent and militarily stronger Turkey in a volatile Middle East.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte used the summit’s opening to trumpet new defense commitments across the alliance, announcing a deal to replace aging airborne early warning and control aircraft with Sweden’s GlobalEye platform. Rutte said the alliance plans to unveil a series of deals worth “tens of billions” of dollars over the two-day gathering.
Trump has made NATO defense spending a centerpiece of his second term, pressing each member nation to meet last year’s pledge to raise defense and defense-related expenditures to at least 5% of gross domestic product. The president is expected to seek a progress report from each ally during summit meetings.
He arrived after European partners expressed frustration over the U.S.-Israeli bombardment of Iran earlier this year, with allies saying they felt caught off guard by the campaign and pressured to provide logistical support without adequate consultation.
Trump is scheduled to meet Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa before a news conference and departure.
