Trump eyes lifting sanctions, resuming sale of prized fighter jets to Turkey
President Donald Trump is considering lifting sanctions on and resuming the sale of fighter jets to Turkey after a conversation with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.Trump expressed an intent to help finalize the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey and is open to the idea of selling Turkey its true prized goal, F-35 jets, if the two sides can come to an agreement that renders Turkey’s Russian S-400 system inoperable, two sources confirmed to Fox News Digital.That agreement could look like partially disassembling the machinery or moving it to a U.S.-controlled base in Turkey.Congress approved the $23 billion sale of 40 F-16s and modernization kits for 79 in its current fleet to Turkey last year, but there are ongoing negotiations between Turkey’s defense ministry and Lockheed Martin, which builds the jet.Trump’s team has asked for legal and technical analysis of how it could avoid finding Turkey in violation of Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions, according to one source familiar with the request.The State Department and National Security Council could not be reached for comment.The U.S.agreed to extend a waiver allowing Turkey to buy Russian natural gas until May, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.Trump and Erdogan spoke by phone on Sunday, and the Turkish government is looking to firm up plans to bring Erdogan to the U.S.
to visit with Trump in the near future.The Turkish embassy pointed to a readout of the call from Erdogan’s office which said the president had expressed to Trump, “in order to develop cooperation between the two countries in the field of defense industry, it is necessary to end CAATSA sanctions, finalize the F-16 procurement process and finalize Türkiye’s re-participation in the F-35 program.”Erdogan asked the U.S.to lift sanctions on Syria, where a new governing force, HTS, overthrew Bashar al-Assad with Turkish backing.
The U.S.side did not provide a readout of the call.Turkey was kicked out o...