According to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, President Trump has signed an executive order authorizing him to take broad action against Turkey over the ongoing invasion of northern Syria, if the administration decides to do so.
“These are very powerful sanctions,” Mnuchin told reporters, adding that “we can shut down the Turkish economy if we need to.” So far, there have been no decisions made to actually attempt this.
Though US officials, and particularly the Trump Administration, highly esteem their ability to impose its economic will worldwide, it’s not at all clear that US sanctions could even hypothetically shut down Turkey’s economy.
While the US has greatly damaged the economies of nations like Iran with generations of ever-escalating sanctions, immediate and overwhelming action is something else entirely. Turkey has the world’s 20th largest economy, and is a major hub for the global oil and gas trade. Threats aside, there is no practical way to cut Turkey off from global trade.
Who are we to tell Turkey what to do after we tried to destroy Syria with our stooges???
Russia and China ready to fill any void.
Like they filled the void in Venezuela? No white knight is riding over hill for Turkey.
Turkey is smply following in the footsteps of the USA the greater example.
This is all bluster.
Since we have no power to stop them, we stop talking and make them as angry as possible. That should get us what?