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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday reiterated his call for the removal of restrictions on defense industry cooperation with the United States, days ahead of his scheduled meeting with his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.
“Our defense industry cooperation with the U.S. must be freed from obstacles and restrictions as soon as possible, in line with the spirit of our alliance,” Erdoğan told a Türkiye-U.S. Business Council (TAIK) conference in New York.
“There are many steps we can take in this area, such as developing new projects, supply chains and joint production, in line with mutual interests.”
Erdoğan is in the U.S. for this week’s U.N. General Assembly and will also meet with Trump at the White House on Thursday.
He last visited Trump in 2019, and the two leaders have repeatedly hailed a “very good relationship.”
They shared a close personal bond during Trump’s first term, but it was also a period of strained bilateral relations due to disputes over Washington’s ties with the terrorist group YPG in Syria and Ankara’s dealings with Moscow.
Frustrated over the embargoes and failure by the West to provide it with an air defense system, Türkiye went on to purchase the S-400 missile system from Russia in 2019. That saw it being suspended from the multinational F-35 fighter jet program by the U.S., which also canceled a planned sale of the warplanes to Türkiye.
Washington claimed the Russian system would endanger the fighter jets. Ankara has repeatedly said there is no conflict between the two and proposed a commission to study the issue.
Türkiye subsequently agreed on a deal to purchase F-16 jets.
On Friday, Trump said he expects to conclude trade and military agreements in the meeting with Erdoğan, including a large-scale purchase of Boeing aircraft, a major F-16 deal and a continuation of the F-35 talks.
Erdoğan confirmed on Monday that he will negotiate the acquisition of F-35 jets during the meeting.
A report by Bloomberg News on Tuesday said Türkiye plans to buy hundreds of Boeing airliners and Lockheed Martin jets, while seeking over $10 billion in local production deals.
The deals are subject to approval by Trump, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.
In a sign of warming bilateral ties ahead of the leaders’ meeting, Türkiye on Monday announced it had scrapped the retaliatory tariffs it imposed during Trump’s first term on a range of U.S. imports, including passenger cars and fruit.
The cancellations apply to levies imposed in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium imports enacted in 2018.
Bilateral trade goal
Addressing the investment conference in New York, Erdoğan said the $100 billion bilateral trade volume target between Türkiye and the U.S. “continues to be our common goal.”
Stating that the bilateral trade volume is growing every year, he noted that it had exceeded $35 billion last year. The bilateral goal can be achieved with the support of the private sector and new investment initiatives, he added.
Erdoğan also stressed their determination to use bilateral mechanisms more effectively in the coming days on all matters that could hurt Türkiye’s trade.
“We hope that additional customs duties based on reciprocity will not diminish the momentum gained in trade. We are acting very sensitively on this issue,” he said, referring to recent global tensions over tariffs.
“We expect the momentum in bilateral ties to accelerate by exploring cooperation opportunities in sectors including energy, cyberspace, and space,” Erdogan highlighted.
“We continue to take steps to strengthen a transparent, competitive, secure market environment that will make Türkiye more attractive to investors,” he noted.
Türkiye’s strong logistics infrastructure, modern ports, and advanced highway and railway networks make it a strategic hub for investors, he added.
Erdoğan also underscored the potential for cooperation in new sectors. “We expect the momentum in our relations to accelerate by seizing cooperation opportunities in energy, cyber and space sectors,” he said.
Reaffirming Ankara’s commitment to investor-friendly reforms, Erdoğan added: “We continue to take steps to consolidate a transparent, competitive and secure market environment that will make Türkiye more attractive for investors.”
