Washington, DC - "The American and Turkish peoples have been friends and allies for many, many decades." ~ President Donald J. Trump

ENGAGING ON CRITICAL ISSUES: President Donald J. Trump is working to advance America’s important relationship with Turkey.

• Today, President Trump welcomed President Erdogan at the White House for bilateral discussions on a range of important issues.
• Direct engagement and diplomacy between our nations are essential to addressing the challenges facing the United States-Turkey bilateral relationship.
• Turkey’s cooperation is crucial to protecting United States interests in the region and beyond.
• The United States-Turkey relationship has benefitted both of our countries for more than 90 years.

A CRITICAL NATO ALLY: Turkey is a critical NATO Ally, and our continued cooperation is important for American interests in the region and beyond.

• The United States and Turkey work together on numerous security issues in the Middle East and around the globe.
• Within NATO, Turkey has the second largest armed forces and has raised its defense spending with the goal of reaching its 2 percent of GDP minimum obligation.
• Turkey has been a critical partner in the fight to annihilate the ISIS caliphate.
  • Turkey’s continued engagement remains essential in ensuring ISIS is never allowed to reconstitute.
• Turkey continues to make important contributions to NATO’s Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan.
• Turkey is a significant partner for foreign military sales, which total in the billions of dollars.
  • Turkey is not only a purchaser of American military equipment, but it is a supplier of component parts for dozens of critical United States and NATO defense programs.
• In order to achieve progress on other fronts, it is vital that we resolve the issues involving Turkey’s purchase of the Russian S-400 air defense system, strengthening our defense partnership.

GROWING AND BALANCING ECONOMIC TIES: President Trump is working to expand commerce and achieve fair and balanced trade between the United States and Turkey.

• The United States encourages Turkey to further open its markets to American goods and services, and ensure a level playing field for our trade relationship.
• Turkey has enormous potential as a trading partner of the United States.
• Recognizing this opportunity, our two countries are working together to achieve a goal of $100 billion in bilateral trade annually.
• Turkey has been an important and growing destination for American investment.
  • American investment in Turkey totaled $4.7 billion in 2018; a 9 percent increase over the previous year.
  • Turkey has also been an important source of investment in the United States with $2.4 billion in investments in 2018.