TRUMP IMPOSES SANCTIONS
U.S. officials to travel to Ankara
President also calls for an immediate cease-fire after his abrupt troop withdrawal from Syria and reports of ISIS detainees escaping.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, facing blowback over his abrupt troop withdrawal from Syria and amid reports that Islamic State detainees have escaped in the ensuing chaos, imposed sanctions Monday on three Turkish officials and two government agencies, and called for an immediate cease-fire.
Just hours after Trump issued a statement that sanctions would be imposed “soon,” Vice President Mike Pence and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin announced that the president had spoken with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and that the sanctions had been imposed.
“The United States will aggressively use economic sanctions to target those who enable, facilitate and finance these heinous acts in Syria,” Trump said in the statement released on his Twitter feed. “I am fully prepared to swiftly destroy Turkey’s economy if Turkish leaders continue down this dangerous and destructive path.”
Pence also told reporters that U.S. officials would be traveling to Ankara soon to help find a solution to one of the most serious foreign policy crises this administration has faced.
The withdrawal of U.S. troops from the Syrian border at Erdogan’s request led almost immediately to a Turkish invasion and heavy Kurdish casualties, prompting a broad, bipartisan outcry in Washington.
Lawmakers, concerned about emboldening ISIS and the betrayal of Kurdish fighters, are working on a resolution condemning Trump’s decision and legislation to impose sanctions against Turkey.
Trump, whose global business interests have included office towers in Istanbul, also announced the re-imposition of 50% steel tariffs, which he had dropped to 25% earlier this year.
The new tariffs are unlikely to damage Turkey’s steel industry, where U.S. purchases account for only about 5% of the country’s steel exports.
Democrats criticized the president’s actions as inadequate.
“Strong sanctions, while good and justified, will not be sufficient in undoing that damage, nor will it stop the consequences stemming from the ISIS jailbreak,” Sens. Charles E. Schumer of New York, Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Jack Reed of Rhode Island said in a statement. “The first step when Congress returns to session this week is for Republicans to join with us in passing a resolution making clear that both parties are demanding the president’s decision be reversed.”
Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Monday that Turkey’s invasion had “resulted in the release of many dangerous ISIS detainees, along with “widespread casualties, refugees, destruction, insecurity, and a growing threat to U.S. military forces.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., harshly criticized the fallout of Trump’s decision to pull back U.S. troops in Syria.
“Withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria would re-create the very conditions that we have worked hard to destroy, and invite the resurgence of ISIS,” he said, adding that it would create a power vacuum readily exploited by Iran and Russia.
Trump stood by his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northern Syria. He said that the roughly 1,000 troops will “redeploy and remain in the region” to prevent … ISIS from regaining strength in a military vacuum.