US President Donald Trump responded to a question about lifting the CAATSA sanctions against Türkiye and paving the way for the sale of Turkish defense products to the US by saying that he was in communication with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Trump said, “I love Türkiye. I always speak with President Erdoğan. He is my friend.”
Trump said oil prices would fall once the Iran issue was resolved, and announced that Europe would contribute on diesel fuel and that the US would not impose an export ban.
Why it matters
The statements keep alive the question of whether political contact in Türkiye-US relations will translate into concrete issues such as the CAATSA sanctions and trade in defense products. For this reason, the issue directly concerns groups interested in access to the US market due to the sanctions and defense trade between the two countries. The assessments regarding oil prices, meanwhile, address in the same framework the possible impact of developments concerning the Iran issue on energy costs, Europe’s contribution on diesel, and the US export policy. However, the absence of a finalized decision in the current statements on lifting the sanctions or starting sales indicates that the economic and commercial consequences have not yet become clear.
Background
Trump is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: we have published 45 news reports mentioning the name in the last 90 days; the most recent was dated October 3, 2026.