Trump signs executive order allowing broad action against Turkey
Trump faces considerable opposition to his move among US lawmakers as many regard Trump as abandoning the US Kurdish allies. As usual, Trump’s response is to somewhat change course and follow a somewhat contradictory policy. Trump has now signed an executive order that would allow him to take broad action against Turkey should he decide to do so.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said: “These are very powerful sanctions. We hope we don’t have to use them. But we can shut down the Turkish economy if we need to.” So far there is no sign of actually implementing the order. Perhaps it is designed to ensure that Turkey does not extend it invasion of Syria beyond the safe zone. No doubt it is also designed to placate his critics some of whom are Republicans.
Mnuchin was following the narrative that Trump himself had already established as reported in an earlier article: “President Donald Trump on Monday defended his decision to withdraw U.S. forces from the northern border of Syria, saying if Turkey does anything he considers “off limits” that he would “totally destroy and obliterate” the country’s economy.”
Some critics of Trump’s policy had been calling for sanctions: “Senators, including Trump’s key Republican ally Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, started to agitate for sanctions on Turkey this week. On Wednesday, Graham and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., announced what they called a “framework” for sanctions against the country.”
Sanctions against Turkey might not work that well
The Turkish economy is the twentieth largest in the world. The US sanctions will not work unless other countries follow US sanctions. Many, even US allies may not be willing to do so as this could hurt their own companies and economy to some extent. Turkey is a major hub for the global oil and gas trade. As such many countries will not want to cut off business connections with Turkey as the US might urge. Trump loves to threaten countries with US power exhibiting both arrogance and hubris which to many may make the US look to be the global bully.