The United States slapped sanctions on Turkey as it demanded an end to the deadly incursion against Syrian Kurdish fighters. US gave a warning to destroy turkey economy.
The actions came hours after Syrian regime troops returned for the first time in years to northeastern parts of the country.
President Donald Trump took extraordinary measures against a country that is officially an US ally as he faces mounting criticism at home.
President Trump said in a statement that “I am fully ready to swiftly destroy Turkey’s economy if Turkish leaders continue down this dangerous and destructive path,”
The Treasury Department said it was imposing sanctions on Turkey’s defense, interior and energy ministers, freezing their US assets and making US transactions with them a crime.
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi criticized the sanctions on Twitter, writing they “fall very short of reversing the humanitarian disaster brought about by (Trump’s) own erratic decision-making.”
Vice President Mike Pence said he would travel shortly to Turkey and that Trump had telephoned Erdogan on Tuesday to insist that Turkey end the operation.
Trump said he was also ending talks on a US-Turkey trade deal he valued at $100 billion and, in perhaps the most biting reprisal, re-imposing tariffs of 50 percent of Turkish steel.
Signaling an escalating rift in relations, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he would head the next week to Brussels to ask NATO allies to punish Turkey over the incursion.
The Kurds had repeatedly warned of that exact scenario when Western countries refused to repatriate their IS-linked nationals and when Trump made it clear he wanted to end the US military presence.
