Trump's surprise Turkey sanctions pledge leaves Rubio looking stunned

President Donald Trump on Tuesday abruptly announced that the U.S. would lift sanctions imposed ​on Turkey over its purchase of Russian defense missiles, and signaled that his administration could approve the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to the NATO ally. The move, which is likely to face strong resistance in Congress, left the Turkish President  Recep Tayyip Erdoğan delighted, but U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio seemingly looked confused, if not stunned. 

In ‌what was the first visit to Turkey by a U.S. president in 11 years, Trump attended the NATO summit in Ankara. He was welcomed by the Turkish president grandly, and while speaking to reporters at the Turkish presidential palace, Trump repeatedly praised Erdoğan, and Washington's relationship with Ankara had never been better. However, Turkey's 2019 acquisition of a Russian S-400 system, which led to Washington imposing sanctions on a major Turkish defense company under the 2020 Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), and Turkey's exclusion from the F-35 stealth fighter jet program remained a sore point. 

Thus, to seemingly ease those tensions, when a reporter asked Erdoğan about the sanctions, Trump, sitting next to his colleague, abruptly announced, "We're ​going to be taking the sanctions off." He went on to add that "It's time. We don't want to sanction friends," before pointing to his Secretary of State Marco Rubio, saying that he was working with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the issue.

As the Turkish translator conveyed the message to the Turkish president, he appeared to be delighted as he pointed to Trump, then to Rubio before showing a thumbs up with a smile. However, when the camera panned to Rubio, he seemingly looked surprised and confused as he looked around the room at the reporters. Trump's announcement may have taken him by surprise too, as there were no signs of the U.S. lifting the CAATSA sanctions that targeted Turkiye’s Presidency of Defence Industries and imposed financial and banking restrictions.

Furthermore, when asked if he had any concerns about Ankara still being in possession of the Russian S-400s, Trump said he had no issues, before saying that he would soon decide on the sale of US F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. "That's a decision we're going to make. It's a great plane, the best plane by far, and it's certainly something we will consider," Trump said. However, he did not ​say how exactly such a transaction would take place given objections from the U.S. Congress that passed a law in 2019 prohibiting any F-35 sales to Turkey as long as it retained the S-400s, as the Russian system posed a security risk to U.S.-made combat aircraft. 

However, Trump seemed confident in his relationship with the NATO ally as he said, "Turkey has been, in many ways, much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal." Erdoğan also said he hoped for a positive result on the issue. "We have discussed ‌this before ⁠with the U.S. and were promised five jets. I know that Mr. Trump always keeps his promises," he said, according to Reuters. Currently, the proposition is expected to see a bipartisan challenge as a group of lawmakers led by Republican Representative Mike Lawler and Democratic Representative Brad Sherman last week wrote a letter to the president expressing their "deep concern" over a potential deal due to Turkey's ​relations with Iran and "anti-Israel rhetoric."